PRESS RELEASE FOR THE ANNUAL PRESS CONFERENCE
Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” – the first decade
Foundation EVZ supports the largest collection of documents on Nazi forced labour
Berlin, 29 April 2010. Ten years ago, on 6 July 2000, the German Bundestag passed the Law on the Creation of a Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future“. The Foundation EVZ commenced work on 31 August 2000. At its annual press conference 2010, the Foundation presented an overview of its activities in the previous year.
“The Foundation EVZ is an expression of Germany’s ongoing historical responsibility. Addressing both the national and international levels, it sees its task in keeping alive the memory of the victims of forced labour and of the Holocaust. It fosters active commitment for the survivors and for a Europe in which human rights are respected.
In the past years, the Foundation EVZ has supported over 2,000 projects that have effectively encouraged understanding and promoted reconciliation with Central and Eastern European countries and with Israel. Remembering the crimes of the 20th century is painful, but nonetheless necessary for friendly relations today. Commemoration and remembrance can contribute to securing human rights and combating xenophobia, anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism in Europe,” says Dr Martin Salm, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation EVZ.
Since the Foundation was established, it has approved funding of EUR 56.5 million for 2,103 projects in its three activity areas: A critical examination of history, Working for human rights and Commitment to the victims of National Socialism.
The largest project promoted to date is the exhibition FORCED LABOUR – the Germans, their forced labourers and the war, which will open at the Jewish Museum in Berlin on 27 September 2010 with the German President as patron. The exhibition was designed by the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation. Since 2007, the Foundation EVZ has provided funding totalling EUR 4.9 million for the international travelling exhibition and for 13 research projects in 11 countries that explored forced labour in the occupied territories. “In 2007, the Foundation completed the payments to 1.7 million forced labourers and other victims of National Socialism. It is our task to permanently anchor the history of forced labour under National Socialism in the European memory. We have to communicate this theme to the younger generations and encourage their active involvement,” says Günther Saathoff, member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation EVZ. “For us, its is particularly important that the exhibition reaches an international audience. The second stop will be Warsaw in 2011. Germany’s efforts to shed light on this disastrous chapter in its history is also a sign of reconciliation towards our neighbours,” explains Günther Saathoff.
A team of researchers at the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation has been working since 2007 on documents, historical artefacts and photographs that testify to the extent of this crime. “In World War II, forced labourers were exploited on nearly every building site, every farm, in every factory and in many private households. Over 20 million people were forced to work for the Germans in the German Reich and the occupied territories – and many did not survive,” says Dr Jens-Christian Wagner, Director of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp memorial site and one of the curators of the exhibition.
At the annual press conference, the Foundation presented its Report on Activities 2009, which outlines its key funding activities and includes a financial overview. Despite the difficult situation on the financial markets, the Foundation will be able to maintain an annual funding budget of EUR 6.7 million in 2010 and the coming years. At the end of 2009, the Foundation’s assets stood at EUR 411 million.
To mark our 10th anniversary, we have also published a brochure entitled Foundation EVZ – the first decade. The brochure documents the milestones in the different phases of the Foundation’s history: its creation, the payments programmes for former forced labourers and other victims of National Socialism, and the current funding activities. It also contains brief statements from prominent persons in the fields of politics, industry and society on the impact of the Foundation’s work. You will find the unabridged statements and further information on the first decade of our work at www.stiftung-evz.de/ueber-uns/
Contact
Franka Kuehn
Press and public relations
Tel.: +49 30 259297-76
Fax: +49 30 259297-11
kuehn@stiftung-evz.de
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