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EUROPE AND GERMANY 1939-45

Violence in the museum

31 March 2022

4th symposium in our series “Historical Judgement”

One of four photographs by Alberto Errera, 1944, taken in secret near a gas chamber

In October 2020, the German Bundestag decided to establish a documentation center focused on the German occupation regime in Europe during World War II. The German Historical Museum has been commissioned to develop a concept for implementing this project—the basis for treating this theme in the fourth symposium of our “Historical Judgment” series. We would like to invite all those interested to consider key aspects of Germany’s rule over 230 million human beings in what now constitute 27  European countries.
At the center of lectures by international experts and connected discussions will be two underlying questions: What approach should we take in presenting the reality of violence? And what sorts of objects can we choose in order to narrate which particular stories about violent rule?

Participation

Participation is free

Conference Languages: German and English, Simultaneous translation

The video recording is available on our YouTube channel.

Conference kit

Programme

9.00 - 9.30 REGISTRATION

9.30 - 10.30

WELCOME

Raphael Gross, Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum

KEYNOTE

  • Exhibiting Violence: On the Museum Display of German Occupation Rule
    Jens-Christian Wagner, Stiftung Gedenkstätten Buchenwald und Mittelbau-Dora, Weimar

10.30 - 12.30 PANEL I: OCCUPATION RULE IN DISPLAYED OBJECTS

  • Occupation or Vacation? Germans in France, 1940–44
    Julia S. Torrie, St. Thomas University, Fredericton
  • Objects of Occupation Rule in the Deutsches Historisches Museum:
    Identification, Research, Display
    Fritz Backhaus, Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum

In conversation: Julia Franke, Lili Reyels, Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum

Moderation: Raphael Utz, Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum

12.30 - 14.00 LUNCH BREAK

14.00 - 16.00 PANEL II: STOLEN AND DESTROYED OBJECTS

  • The German Looting of Cultural Assets in the Occupied Europe: Why Efforts at Categorisation and Quantification Fail
    Meike Hopp, Technische Universität Berlin

In conversation: Wolfgang Eichwede, Forschungsstelle Osteuropa an der Universität Bremen, Bianca Gaudenzi, Deutsches Historisches Institut Rom, Hermann Parzinger, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin

Moderation: Benjamin Lahusen, Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)

16.00 - 16.30 COFFEE BREAK

16.30 - 19.00 PANEL III: OBJECTS OF MEMORY

  • Under the Gallows: Remembering the German Occupation in
    Yugoslavia
    Sabina Ferhadbegović, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

In conversation: Mary Fulbrook, Philippe Sands, University College London

Moderation: Natalia Aleksiun, University of Florida, Gainesville

CLOSING COMMENT

Raphael Gross, Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum

The “Historical Judgement” event series is funded by Dr. Christiane und Dr. Nicolaus Weickart.

We ask for your understanding that there may be changes due to the current situation. Please visit our website for the latest information.

Contact

Jenny Jakubik and Sonja Trautmann

tagungsbuero@dhm.de

Phone +49 (0)30 20304-415/-411

Historical Judgement. Magazine of the Deutsches Historisches Museum

The 4th edition of the Historical Judgement magazine is published. Order now!

picture: One of four photographs by Alberto Errera, 1944, taken in secret near a gas chamber © Panstwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau