© Amélie Losier/Raum 11
The dedication, professionalism, and power of innovation shown across all projects are impressive. Therefore, it is difficult to pick out a single one. The project “Have You Seen This Book?” by the Leo Baeck Institutes in London and Jerusalem is one project I remember in particular – also because it was launched last October in the immediate aftermath of the attack on Israel. The Initiative commemorates the history of the library of the Berlin Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums [Higher Institute for Jewish Studies], destroyed under National Socialism. Thanks to the digital “Library of Lost Books”, interested people are integrated as citizen scientists in the search for the lost books. The project reaches new target groups and creates new formats and content for the culture of remembrance by means of the research items, and is entirely in line with the Education Agenda NS-Injustice. And it didn’t take long to see the first positive outcomes: in this magazine, we are featuring one of the recovered books!
Since October 7, the outlook on both school and extracurricular Holocaust education and the impact of antisemitism has undergone a drastic change. Our focus on Israel-related antisemitism and the dangers posed to Jews and Jewish institutions must be even more decisive and we need to initiate more antisemitism- critical projects. An example of how antisemitism can be countered directly is our EVZ project “Informed, courageous, committed!”: employees from various German companies are participating in blended learning formats and actively training themselves to recognize antisemitic prejudices and statements at the workplace. This magazine features an interview with one of the participants.
Our projects will take us on a tour d’horizon across the diverse landscape of remembrance, encompassing a potent mix of formats and events all over Germany. Would you like a little foretaste? For an entire day, the Theater Duisburg will turn into the “House of Resistance” on May 8, 2025: In a walk-in installation, various Duisburg artists will play in the Theaterhaus with staged and musical formats relating to young resistance movements against National Socialism. At the historic site of the Nuremberg Trials, on November 20, 2025, the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the tribunals – the Memorium Nuremberg Trials – will launch its innovative digital learning space with gamification elements. The EVZ Foundation, celebrating its 25th anniversary next year, also has plenty on its plate: Using the “MEMO meets Education Agenda” survey, we are exploring the “status quo” of the culture of remembrance and subsequently taking the projects of the Education Agenda NS-Injustice on a town hall tour across Germany. Join us and be active together with the EVZ Foundation!
