Education Agenda NS-Injustice

Current Challenges and Needs

The critical examination of National Socialist injustice and its continuities and the historical-political educational work about this period will depend on forms conveyed by the media. Without the generation of survivors and with increasing temporal distance, knowledge of National Socialist history and the Holocaust is on the decrease. At the same time, there has been a worrying increase in antisemitism, antigypsyism and racism. Antisemitic, antigypsy and racially motivated acts of violence and attacks, such as the recent attacks in Hanau and Halle, are occurring with increasing frequency.

Our Approach

The Education Agenda NS-Injustice contributes to the current social and political challenges in historical-political education on National Socialist injustice in Germany and Europe. Historically aware, activating communication of the lessons learned from the National Socialist past and the visualization of experiences of those affected by persecution, reinforce democratic attitudes, and counteract antisemitism, antigypsyism, racism and LGBTIQ hostility.

The projects bring to light the fate of persecuted people and groups, with a special focus on those who have received less public attention so far. Be it

Jews, Roma and Sinti,
people persecuted because of their sexual orientation,
people with disabilities,
forced laborers,
stolen children,
people persecuted politically,
religiously and as “asocial”,
civilian victims of German occupation policy.

Or be it resistance fighters, helpers and rescuers during the time of National Socialism, the Holocaust and during World War II in Europe.

The history of Germany in the post-war period, especially with regard to coping with the consequences of the war, the processes of civic and political reappraisal of the genocides after the end of World War II in Germany (keyword: reparation policy) will also be examined.

The projects of the Education Agenda NS-Injustice use interdisciplinary and multi-perspective formats and approaches: Participatory theater and exhibition concepts, archives and image databases on Nazi history, occupational group-oriented education against discrimination, location-specific apps and serious games as well as new ways of remembrance for memorial sites create visibility and call for discussion, with a special focus on younger generations.

Funding periods

The project is designed as a multi-year program with four funding priorities: In the first phase in 2021, exemplary projects of nationwide significance and European dimension were initially funded. Based on this, program lines will be developed in a planned second funding period to be implemented between 2022-2024.

Funding Priorities

1 – Education in Cultural Spaces

Emotional and low-threshold access to the history of National Socialism and the highlighting of historical continuities make it possible to link the past and the present. Funding is provided to cultural institutions in Germany that develop multidimensional educational projects as well as public exhibitions with nationwide and European impact.

2 – Education in Digital Spaces

Exemplary digital tools and formats for contemporary education enable Remembrance 4.0 – in nationwide cooperation between historians, educators, and civic tech stakeholders.

3 – Transfer

Qualification offers enable knowledge transfer and intervention competencies for relevant professional groups in Germany. They are understood as lifelong learning activities that enable people to recognize historically grounded contexts, acquire systematic historical awareness and promote value-based action in the present.

4 – Europe

Joint remembrance of the pan-European dimension of Nazi injustice in transnational and innovative collaborative projects strengthen cohesion in Europe.

Advisory Board

Project proposals are submitted to an international advisory board consisting of representatives of the Board of Trustees of the EVZ Foundation and the BMF.

BMin (ret.) Annette Schavan, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the EVZ Foundation (Chairwoman)
Government Director Dr. Annika Wernecke, Federal Ministry of Finance
Jonathan Mack, Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Member of the Board of Trustees of the EVZ Foundation
Dr. LL.M. Avraham Weber, Member of the Board of Trustees of the EVZ Foundation
MdB Dietmar Nietan, Member of the Board of Trustees of the EVZ Foundation
Prof. Dr. Susanne Sophia Spiliotis, Foundation Initiative of German Business, Member of the Board of Trustees of the EVZ Foundation
Christoph Kübel, Foundation Initiative of German Business, Member of the Board of Trustees of the EVZ Foundation
MdB Ulle Schauws, Member of the Board of Trustees of the EVZ Foundation

Findings to date

For almost a year now, the forward-looking remembrance project initiated by the Federal Ministry of Finance has been on the move: with a considerable output of art installations, theater premieres, workshops, digital games and mobile applications, a first conclusion can be drawn:

Alive – Culture of remembrance comes alive where boundaries are stretched and applied to new narrative forms via the different approaches of learning and cultural locations, workplaces and urban spaces.
Active – Remembrance becomes active where young people, theater lovers or professionals research, reflect and tell stories themselves beyond learning.
Audible – Culture of remembrance becomes audible when it makes references to the present, to continuities of discrimination, and when it gives voice to groups of victims that were so far hardly being heard.

Structured dialogue

The program is accompanied - with the involvment of the BMF - by a structured, multilateral dialogue with relevant practitioners, various civil society stakeholders, experts, and representatives of victims of National Socialism, persecuted groups and their descendants.