The third of three international and interdisciplinary seminars with the topic “Memory Dialogues on Antisemitism and Racism” was held in March 2023 in Oslo and Falstad, Norway. 26 students and 9 experts from Germany, Norway and Poland participated.

Recognizing, dealing with, and preventing hate speech, antisemitism and racism is a growing concern for contemporary societies and communities. As brutalization in our society seems to increase in both the physical and digital world – the number of discriminating incidents related to hate speech, racism and antisemitism seems to grow accordingly. And this comes not only from private persons, but also from public persons, as we could currently see and hear.

In this workshop, the students were asked to research on this topic, observe relevant societies and communities, and develop adequate concepts.

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The international MA seminar with participants from Lucerne, Paris, Cologne, Berlin, Nijmegen and Warsaw focuses on the analysis of practices and narratives of memory in Europe with regard to war. The construction, public usage – politics of history – contestation and transformation of memory of wars over time will be approached by fusing concepts of memory studies and public history, focusing on different agents in the public sphere, especially museums, commemoration sites, monuments, art, and the media (including social media) will be approached systematically. Against the background of approaches of memory studies (practices, narratives, affects of memory), the seminar aims at an in-depth analytical perspective on past and present constructions of European memories of war and their complex relation to national (and regional) memories. In this perspective, a focus on the present war in Ukraine will be integrated with an eye on how memory is used and produced in this war in Europe.

This international seminar presents a unique opportunity for the collaboration of students from a variety of European countries. Apart from online and live sessions, the exchange of ideas, reflection on texts and analysis of primary sources in small international groups are key elements of the seminar. Working in small groups, students will produce short projects (for example collaboratively elaborated papers, blog posts, online live presentations, videos, podcasts, etc.).

The seminar will consist of weekly online sessions between October 17 and December 19, 2022 and an on-site workshop in Gdańsk from 24 to 26 April 2023 (focusing on the Museum of the Second World War)

• English is the main language of communication.
• Participants are in principle MA students in the study programmes of the six partner Universities.
• Modes of teaching and communication:
  • collaborative work in groups with outputs in various possible formats (papers, videos, podcasts)
  • group discussions in live online seminars
  • two-day workshop in Gdańsk, 24-26 April 2023 (trip and accommodation financed)

Contact: zuendorf [at] zzf-potsdam.de

Flyer (.pdf)

The international and interdisciplinary workshop “Memory dialogues on antisemitism and racism” was planned for students of film studies, public history, design, psychology and journalism coming from Volda University College (Norway), the Free University of Berlin (Germany), the University of Bergen (Norway), SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Wrocław and the University of Warsaw (Poland). It was organized in partnership with the Falstad Center (Norway) and hosted at the POLIN Museum Warsaw.

Recognizing, dealing with, and preventing antisemitism and racism is a growing concern for contemporary societies and communities. As brutalization in our society seems to increase in both the physical and digital world – the number of discriminating incidents related to racism and antisemitism seems to grow accordingly. And this comes not only from private persons, but also from public persons, as we could currently see and hear.

In this workshop, the participants developed anti-discriminatory activities and conceptualized appropriate media projects. Its aims were to network students, experts, and educators as well as to reflect on social history.

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The international MA seminar with participants from Lucerne, Paris, Cologne, Berlin, Nijmegen and Warsaw focuses on the analysis of practices and narratives of memory with regard to Europe’s colonial past. The construction, public usage, contestation and transformation of memory regarding European imperialism, colonialism and decolonisation by different agents in the public sphere, especially museums, monuments, art, the media and political agents will be approached systematically. Against the background of postcolonial theories and theories on memory, the seminar aims at deconstructing blind spots in past and present constructions of European and national memories, on their mechanisms of exclusion that foster(ed) and perpetuat(ed) images of the ‘other’, of racism, discrimination and violence. Comparative perspectives on different national contexts and their entanglements are specifically analysed.

The international seminar presents a unique opportunity to collaborate with students from other European countries. Apart from a digital classroom and live seminars, the exchange of ideas, reflection about texts and analysis of primary sources in focused small international groups is central to the seminar, leading to specific scientific output in various formats (e.g. short collaboratively elaborated papers, blog posts, online live presentations, videos, podcasts etc.). If the situation permits, from November 22 (noon) to November 24 (noon), a Workshop will be organised in Brussels with the House of European History and the Royal Museum for Central Africa.

• English is the main language of communication.
• Participants are in principle MA students in the study programmes of the six partner Universities.
• Modes of teaching and communication:
  - collaborative work in groups with outputs in various possible formats (papers, videos, podcasts)
  - group discussions in live online seminars
  - if the situation permits: two-day workshop in Brussels, 22-24 November (trip and accommodation financed)
• Students will acquire 3 ECTS for participation and activities during the semester. Additional ECTS are possible in relation to additional work done according to the requirements of the respective University.
• Semester dates: October 11 to December 19, 2021.

The number of participants is limited. Please contact the respective Professor of your University.

Flyer International Blended Learning Seminar "Europe. Practices, Narratives, Spaces of Memory, 2021 (pdf)

The first seminar with the topic “Memory Dialogues on Antisemitism and Racism” was held in October 2021 at the Polin Museum in Warsaw, Poland.

The cooperation about interdisciplinary and international seminars has been established between the Polin Museum, Falstad Centre, Volda University College, Freie Universität Berlin, SWPS Wroclaw, University of Warsaw and Hamburg Media School in 2019, after a students workshop in Riga and Sztutowo. Due to the worldwide Corona restrictions in the years 2019-2021, the plans for the cooperation were both postponed and adjusted. The decision to finally start this project in 2021 was made with the Corona regulations still around, therefore, the first official seminar took place in Warsaw with all the involved experts, but without students; so the seminar was used for planning the students activities in 2022 and 2023 carefully. The 1st international and interdisciplinary workshop involved guest speakers, visitations of exhibitions and many relevant discussions around the seminar topic “Memory Dialogues on Antisemitism and Racism”.

The main goals were to get to know each other, to familiarize participants with the methods and resources of the POLIN Museum related to antisemitism, prejudice and discrimination, to create a space to discuss the seminar for students in 2022 and 2023 and to learn about current research and projects on antisemitism from Germany, Norway and Poland.

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You may find some more information about the seminar here: https://portal.uni-koeln.de/international/uzk-weltweit/eduventure/eduventure-cologne-ivac/public-history
If you would like to learn about the teacher's motivations and expectations on the interdisciplinary exchange, please visit the website of the University of Cologne.

Flyer International Blended Learning Seminar "Europe. Practices, Narratives, Spaces of Memory, 2019" (pdf)

Project management: Kathrin Lemme (Lemgo), Irmgard Zündorf (Berlin / ZZF), Thomas Lewe (Volda)

Report by Jan Casper, Sara Elkmann, Linda Graul, Malte Grünkorn, Lily Prollius

On October 17th 2019, about 30 students and six teachers from universities in Germany, Norway, Poland and Latvia met in Gdansk to start a ten-day interdiscplinary workshop on memories and representations of World War II history in general and the history of the Hamburg deportations of Jews, Sinti and Roma in particular. Under the auspices of the workshop title “Memory Dialogues”, students from ten different countries and diverse disciplinary backgrounds in journalism, design, media production and public history came together to discuss different approaches and strategies to commemorate Nazi crimes. The workshop has been a cooperation between the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Ostwestfalen-Lippe in Lemgo and the project „Documentation Center Hanover Station Memorial“, which, as a part of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, is developing a new permanent exhibition in Hamburg’s HafenCity to be opened in 2022. The Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam (ZZF) together with Volda University College, University of Bergen, University Lodz, the Latvian Academy of Culture in Riga, the Stutthof Concentration Camp Memorial, the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Lodz and the Žanis-Lipke-Museum in Riga joined the project as partners. The workshop was led by Kathrin Lemme (Lemgo) and Thomas Lewe (Volda). For the Public History Master programme at Free University Berlin, five students travelled to Gdansk and contributed to the workshop under supervision of ZZF’s Irmgard Zündorf, who is in charge of the Centre’s Public History programme.

The Hanover Station Memorial and its future Documentation Center commemorate over 8000 Jews, Sinti and Roma from Hamburg and Northern Germany who were deported to Ghettos and Concentration Camps in Eastern Europe. The deportation of over 750 Jews from Hamburg to Riga on December 6th  1941 served as the workshop’s historical framework. This is why the participants travelled from Gdansk to the Latvian capital and finished their workshop in Sztutowo/Stutthof Museum, since most of the Hamburg Jews who survived the Ghetto and Camps in Latvia were eventually send to Stutthof Concentration Camp.

In the following text the Berlin students report on the workshop and its outcomes, namely the five different concepts for the entrance hall in the soon-to-come Documentation Center Hanover Station Memorial the workshop was ought to produce.

Workshop description

Presentation of results
(Five Concepts for the entrance wall in the Documentationcenter Hanover Station Memorial)

A short report of the workshop in German can also be found on the Neuengamme Memorial site:
https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de/nachrichten/news/wie-stellen-sich-studierende-eine-gelungene-ausstellung-vor/

Flyer INTERNATIONAL AND INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDENT WORKSHOP ON THE MEMORY OF NAZI CRIMES (pdf)
 

Organisation: Volda University College (Norwegen), die Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe, die Universität Łódź (Polen), das Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam (ZZF) und das Centrum Dialogu Marek Edelmann in Łódź
Ein Bericht von Anna Linnéa Herrmann, Michaela Hofmann, Mariane Pöschel, Anna Schattschneider, Charlotte Wittenius und Irmgard Zündorf

Unter dem Motto „Rethinking Memory Culture“ kamen 20 Studierende des Graphic Designs und des Journalismus aus Norwegen, der Künste aus Polen und der Filmwissenschaften sowie der Public History aus Deutschland Anfang Oktober für zehn Tage in Łódź (Polen) zusammen, um Konzepte zur Erinnerung an das Ghetto Litzmannstadt zu entwickeln. Neben der Auseinandersetzung mit der Geschichte des Ghettos, das von 1939 bis 1944 im von Deutschland besetzen Polen bestand, lag der Fokus auf der interdisziplinären und internationalen Arbeit. Es entstanden vielseitige und multiperspektivische Konzeptideen, die zum Abschluss des Workshops im Auditorium des Centrum Dialogu Marek Edelmann öffentlich präsentiert wurden: So u.a. die Idee ein langfristiges Kommunikationsnetzwerk zwischen Einwohnerinnen und Einwohnern aber auch den Besucherinnen und Besuchern in Lodz zu kreieren und z.B. ein App oder Website einzurichten. Auch das Konzept eines interaktives Dramas für Schülerinnen und Schüler wurde vorgestellt. Es soll dabei helfen, Jugendlichen die Geschichte des Ghettos Litzmannstadt auf einer persönlichen Ebene nahe zu bringen und sie aktiv in den Lernprozess zu involvieren. Mehr lesen

Rethinking the Rural Landscape. Gemeinsam Analysieren, Erarbeiten, Präsentieren und Vorausdenken der Landschaft
Ein Bericht von Johanna Blender, Ulli Engst, Marcel Haug, Bettina Köhler und Irmgard Zündorf

Vom 27. April bis zum 6. Mai 2018 fand in Pontinia (Italien) die gemeinsame Summer School Rethinking the Rural Landscape. Gemeinsam Analysieren, Erarbeiten, Präsentieren und Vorausdenken der Landschaft der Technischen Universität Berlin und des Politecnico di Milano mit dem Masterstudiengang Public History der Freien Universität Berlin statt. Die Summer School wurde in Kooperation mit MAP – Museo dell‘agro Pontino durchgeführt und durch den DAAD finanziert.
Ziel war es, die Auswirkung der faschistischen Ideologie auf die Region seit ihrer Trockenlegung verständlich zu machen. Dafür erforschten Architekturstudierende, Stadtplaner und Public Historians Pontinia und seine Umgebung mit verschiedenen interdisziplinären Methoden. Sie kartierten die Stadt und ihr Umfeld, sichteten historische Materialien – vor allem Fotos – im Museo dell‘agro Pontino und interviewten Einwohner der Region. Zum Abschluss entwickelten die Studierenden Präsentationen ihrer Ergebnisse, die in einer öffentlichen Veranstaltung vor Ort vorgestellt wurden. Mehr lesen