Event review: "80 years of the liberation of Auschwitz"

17. 02. 2025 - News

Event review

Panel discussion “80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz – where do we stand today?”

Photos: © Heiner Schlote

On January 26, 2025, a panel discussion took place at the Landesmuseum Hannover in cooperation with Villa Seligmann as part of the exhibition “KZ Überlebt”. The exhibition by Regensburg photographer Stefan Hanke, which was on show at the Landesmuseum and Villa Seligmann between October 2024 and February 2025, featured 74 and 18 black-and-white portraits of concentration camp survivors respectively.

As part of the exhibition and to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Falko Mohrs (Lower Saxony’s Minister for Science and Culture), Philipp Peyman Engel (Editor-in-Chief of the weekly newspaper Jüdische Allgemeine), Prof. Dr. Katja Lembke (Director of the Landesmuseum Hannover) and Eliah Sakakushev-von Bismarck (Director of Villa Seligmann) spoke about contemporary ways of dealing with anti-Semitism. Dr. Katja Lembke (Director of the Landesmuseum Hannover) and Eliah Sakakushev-von Bismarck (Director of Villa Seligmann) spoke about current ways of dealing with anti-Semitism, (historical) responsibility and the role of art and culture in remembering the Shoah. The event was accompanied by music from Nico Gutu (accordion) and Martha Bijlsma (cello),

“How can the incomprehensible become comprehensible? Even 80 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, the Holocaust in all its dimensions and cruelty is beyond our imagination. The exhibition ‘Concentration Camp Survivors’ gives the victims of the Nazi murder machine a face and traces individual fates – and at the same time celebrates life. This direct culture of remembrance is more necessary than ever, especially in times of rising nationalism and anti-Semitism.” – Falko Mohrs (Lower Saxony’s Minister for Science and Culture) on the “KZ Überlebt” exhibition and remembering the Shoah

Shortly after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Philipp Peyman Engel wrote a book entitled “Deutsche Lebenslügen: Anti-Semitism, Again and Still” (dtv-Verlag). “It’s a very angry book,” says Engel, “that puts its finger in the wound without exaggerating.” For him, the clear naming of hatred of Jews is central, “no matter which side it comes from.” Anti-Semitism must be recognized and named wherever it occurs – whether it comes from the right, the left or the Muslim milieu.

The interviewees agreed on the central role of education both in and out of school. Eliah Sakakushev-von Bismarck quoted from a survey conducted by the Jewish Claims Conference in which 12% of German schoolchildren stated that they had never heard of the terms “Holocaust” or “Shoah”. 18% of Germans also believe that the number of Jews murdered during the Shoah is “exaggerated”. This shows that there is a great need to catch up on historical education in schools in many places. Prof. Katja Lembke emphasized how important it is to address and touch people on an emotional level at a young age. In the age of digitalization, it is all the more important to preserve the memories of contemporary witnesses and make them accessible to the public, as is possible, for example, in the virtual encounter with contemporary witness Margot Friedländer in the Landesmuseum Hannover as part of the “KZ Überlebt” exhibition.

Eliah Sakakushev-von Bismarck also emphasized that culture plays a central role in today’s remembrance of the Holocaust. “Culture creates images and sensory experiences to keep the memory of the Shoah alive. It is important that artistic productions take up this challenge.” Music in particular is able to “open up this special dimension where words are no longer enough”. According to Philipp Peyman Engel, there is no obligation for artists and cultural professionals to deal with the Shoah. However, if an examination and artistic processing takes place, it must be very good and, above all, worthy.