© Roger Mayrock
The project Butter, Vieh, Vernichtung – Nationalsozialismus und Landwirtschaft im Allgäu [Butter, Livestock, Extermination – National Socialism and Agriculture in the Allgäu Region] has held numerous workshops and events aimed at different age groups, opening both historical and personal pathways to the Allgäu region’s Nazi past.
What personal impressions and stories from the workshops do you feel have been especially influential in terms of intergenerational exchange?
You could probably say the biggest impact has been felt in cases where the typical “village mindset” prevails. Elderly people or “secondary witnesses” recall exemplary individuals from their immediate social environment in conversations which are very much like “village chit-chat” – bringing Nazi injustice to life and giving history a face in a very down-to-earth way. It helps when there is a local frame of reference, because then an isolated report becomes “our (shared) history”. A common background and environment – such as growing up on a farm or similar – builds connections: what was it like then, what is it like now? Why did a forced laborer have to milk cows? Who influenced the lives of village children? Were there ardent Nazis in the village? Who showed some courage?
How have creative approaches and formats helped raise young people’s awareness of local Nazi history and its relevance today?
Our creative approaches help bring about a shift from passive knowledge absorption to active engagement. Young people are keen to participate, and in our creative formats they find their own ways of expressing their thoughts. We provide careful expert and artistic guidance to ensure that the facts are genuinely understood and that the creative activities inspire a sense of fun, too. I firmly believe that when young people are given an artistic “voice” to express their perception of local history, they build a lasting connection with the historical heritage of their community and learn to value democratic achievements.
On September 19, the exhibition on National Socialism in the Allgäu and Swabia opens in Kempten’s historic Allgäuhalle. How important is the exhibition in terms of the project and remembrance culture in the region, do you think?
I believe it is very significant. It’s an unusual perspective that we take in our research and storytelling – focusing on the world of farming and subsequent production. Yet it is one that has profoundly shaped our region and is typical of rural areas more generally.
In this way we’re able to build bridges from general knowledge about the Nazi era and remembrance of the atrocities to a form of memory culture that touches directly on the day-to-day lives of people here and now – based on identifiable individuals and set within the context of “big history”.
We very much appreciate having the Allgäuhalle as the first venue of our touring exhibition: after all, it was in these former cattle auction halls that Hitler once campaigned, forced laborers arrived, concentration camp prisoners suffered, and the Wehrmacht and Nazi economy were active.
The exhibition now presents new findings and unusual approaches to a chapter of German and European history that one might assume had been told many times. For the project, too, it is an important supplement as a knowledge repository and platform.
The exhibition Butter, Vieh, Vernichtung – Nationalsozialismus und Landwirtschaft im Allgäu [Butter, Livestock, Extermination – National Socialism and Agriculture in the Allgäu Region] will be on view at the Allgäuhalle in Kempten from September 19 to November 9, 2025.
Find out more about the project in the new issue of the Education Agenda magazine!
