Memory of the persecution: Hiking exhibition in Gießen opened!

Memory of the persecution: Hiking exhibition in Gießen opened!

A hiking exhibition in the town hall foyer of Gießen is currently reminiscent of the Jewish victims of disenfranchisement and expropriation in the 1930s. This exhibition, which comes from the Italian twin town of Ferrara, addresses the persecution of the Jewish population, which led many to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. It presents an innovative "Remember House", made of cardboard and sustainable materials, and contains symbolic objects that tell of the loss and beat a bridge. The project is organized by the Meis, the National Jewish Museum in Ferrara, and was developed with the participation of students and adolescents from Europe, which submitted ideas for design. Five student projects were integrated into the installation, including an upper level class from Brescia that shows confiscated items from 1938, and a class from Eboli that created a video about a Jewish family in 1940.

In addition, a class from Modugno has combined poems with recipes in the "kitchen" of the house. These students dealt intensively with the history of the Jews in Piedmont and Liguria. In his speech, Mayor Frank-Tilo Becher in particular emphasized how strong this story is connected to the city of Gießen, and named the Heart Bankhaus, which was looted by the Nazis in 1938, while the entire heart died in the Treblinka concentration camp. The exhibition also keeps a current reference to today by also addressing the life of Somali refugees in the Dadaab in Kenyan. Dow Aviv, the chairman of the Jewish community of Gießen, cited Federal President Steinmeier: "There is no end to memory."

insight into history

The exhibition "Remember House" can be seen in the foyer of the Gießen town hall until February 27th. The topic of disenfranchisement and expropriation of Jewish people is not only important for the past, but also takes a critical look at current social challenges. Research on the systematic exclusion of Jewish businesses in Germany began in the course of the 20th century, whereby the direct annihilation of Jewish ownership was found from 1933. Local administrative authorities and the NSDAP led to an exclusion of Jewish businesses from business transactions, which resulted in violent blockages and pogrom -like acts of violence.

The decisive events, such as the November pogrom in 1938, represented a culmination of the value system, which led to the complete exclusion of Jews from business life. The Ordinance on the elimination of the Jews from Economic Life should mark the apparent endpoint of Jewish trading activities. Nevertheless, the process in Berlin took far into the war. Studies and research on this topic have long been on the track, but experienced an upswing with the access to reimbursement files in the late 1990s.

The archive as a source of knowledge

For those who want to deal even more intensively with these topics, the Federal Archives on its websites offer a variety of information about Jewish assets during the National Socialism period. Research on the Aryization and specific cases of Jewish property is possible in the online memorial book, and the archive portal Germany offers a theme portal to make amends. Among other things, the entire file via Jewish assets is accessible in the Federal Archives, along with other stocks that are important for the processing of history.

The hiking exhibition in Gießen is not only an important contribution to the culture of remembrance, but also offers current perspectives on the topics of refugee movements and multicultural coexistence. Events like this are of fundamental importance to keep the memory of the horrors of the past and at the same time to use their teachings for the present.