Active Museum of Fascism and Resistance in Berlin

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The Active Museum Fascism and Resistance in Berlin e. V. is a non-profit association with the aim of "educating about German, especially Berlin history of the Nazi era , about developments that enabled the National Socialists to take power and about the consequences and continuities in the period after 1945".

history

The Active Museum emerged in 1983 from a citizens' initiative that organized an event program for the 50th anniversary of the National Socialist takeover on January 30, 1933. In the years that followed, work concentrated on the Prince Albrecht site in Berlin-Kreuzberg , where the Gestapo had its headquarters until 1945.

The site was fallow at the time and was used as a rubble dump and for driving a car without a license. The Active Museum brought up this situation in the 1980s and got involved with other initiatives and groups by means of actions and demonstrations for a place of thought on the site. Since the foundation of the Topography of Terror Foundation , the board and management have been working in the foundation's committees and accompanying their work.

In this sense, the Active Museum stands in the tradition of history workshops and is an archetypal example of a history association that emerged from the movement of “ history from below ”.

Furthermore, the association recognized that in Berlin, besides the Gestapo premises, there was also a need for commemorative signs of the time of National Socialism in other places.

Since 1990 he has endeavored to preserve and mark traces of recent German history in the eastern part of Berlin, to participate in redesigns deemed necessary or to set new symbols of memory . With replacement memorial plaques or additional signs with comments on the names of streets that were renamed after the fall of the Wall , the association wanted to help make the historical and political rifts since 1933 tangible and to preserve the contradictions associated with them.

The exhibition Betrayed and Sold in particular attracted national attention . Jewish companies in Berlin 1933–1945, when it was damaged during a demonstration by Berlin schoolchildren. The exhibition showed the repression against Jewish companies and their survival strategies. It was created in collaboration with a research group at Humboldt University and opened on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the 1938 Reichspogromnacht . The initiative “Breaking Education Blockades”, which organized the demonstration, condemned the damage in an open letter to the Humboldt University and the Active Museum. After a joint visit to the damaged exhibition by pupils and representatives of the Active Museum, a follow-up project was launched in which pupils in their neighborhood research for traces of the “ Aryanization ” of Jewish companies.

Working method

The Active Museum is not a museum in the traditional sense. It is an association that cooperates with other institutions in Berlin for its exhibitions, discussion events and other projects. Research into German-speaking exile between 1933 and 1945 has become a focus of the Active Museum's work . Several exhibitions and publications are dedicated to people fleeing Nazi persecution:

  • 1945: now where? Exile and return.
  • Life in the waiting room - exile in Shanghai 1938–1947.
  • HAYMATLOZ - Exile in Turkey 1933–1945.
  • Without hesitation. Varian Fry : Berlin - Marseille - New York.
  • Last refuge Mexico. Gilberto Bosques and the German-speaking exile after 1939.

In particular, the exhibition on Varian Fry received broad national attention. Among others, the NZZ , arte , the taz , the FAZ , Der Tagesspiegel , the Deutschlandfunk and the WDR reported in detail.

Following on from the association's commitment to urban space and commemorative plaques, the Stolpersteine ​​Berlin coordination center , which has existed since 2005 and was previously directed by the then Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg District Museum (now FHXB Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum ) and the Mitte District Museum, has been continued in the Active Museum since 2012.

Library and archive

The Active Museum has received institutional funding from the State of Berlin since 1990 . The association's office is located in the German Resistance Memorial Center . There is also a reference library and a documentation archive. The latter contains an extensive collection of newspaper clippings on the subject of dealing with the history of National Socialism in Berlin (location markings, victims of Nazi persecution, etc.)

There is also a biographical archive on the history of emigration from Berlin between 1933 and 1945. The Active Museum publishes a circular twice a year that reports on the association's projects.

Publications

  • Series of publications of the Active Museum Fascism and Resistance in Berlin e. V. Active Museum of Fascism and Resistance in Berlin, Berlin, DNB 977966062 , 1990 ff.
  • Active Museum and New Society for Fine Arts (ed.): Preserve, destroy, change? Monuments of the GDR in East Berlin (= series of publications of the Active Museum. 1). Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-926796-14-6 .
  • Stefanie Endlich: Gestapo site of thought (= series of publications of the Active Museum. 2). Berlin 1990.
  • Martin Schönfeld: Memorial plaques in East Berlin. Places of remembrance of the time of National Socialism (= series of publications of the Active Museum. 4). Berlin 1991.
  • Kulturamt Prenzlauer Berg and Active Museum Fascism and Resistance in Berlin V. (Ed.): Myth Antifascism - A traditional cabinet is commented on. Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-86153-035-X .
  • Daniela Büchten and Anja Frey (eds.): In the maze of German history. Die Neue Wache 1818 to 1993 (= series of publications of the Active Museum. 5). Berlin 1993.
  • Martin Schönfeld: Memorial plaques in West Berlin. Places of remembrance of those persecuted by National Socialism (= series of publications of the Active Museum. 6). Berlin 1993.
  • Active Museum Association (Ed.): 1945: Now where? Exile and return. Berlin 1995.
  • Active Museum Association (Hrsg.): Haymatloz: Exile in Turkey 1933–1945. Exhibition catalog. Berlin 2000.
  • Georg Armbrüster, Michael Kohlstruck, Sonja Mühlberger (eds.): Exil Shanghai 1938–1947. Jewish life in emigration (= series of publications of the Active Museum. 7). Teetz 2000, ISBN 978-3-933471-19-2 .
  • Christiane Hoss, Martin Schönfeld (Ed.): Memorial plaques in Berlin. Places of remembrance of those persecuted by National Socialism 1991–2001 (= series of publications of the Active Museum. 9). Berlin 2002.
  • Active Museum Association (ed.): Put in front of the door. Berlin city councilors and members of the magistrate persecuted during National Socialism. Ed. Christine Fischer-Defoy, short biographies by Christiane Hoss. Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-00-018931-9 .
  • Active Museum (Ed.): Without hesitation. Varian Fry: Berlin - Marseille - New York. 2nd, improved edition, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-00-022946-6 .
  • Christoph Kreutzmüller and Kaspar Nürnberg (eds.): Betrayed and sold. Jewish companies in Berlin 1933–1945. 2nd, improved edition, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-026811-3 .
  • Christine Fischer-Defoy , Kaspar Nürnberg (ed.): Good business. Art trade in Berlin 1933–1945. Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-00-034061-1 .
  • Matthias Haß: The Active Museum and the Topography of Terror (= Topography of Terror. Notes. Volume 4). Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3942271653 .
  • Active Museum (Ed.): Last Refuge Mexico. Gilberto Bosques and the German-speaking exile after 1939. Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-039767-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jan-Holger Kirsch: From “Gestapogelaende” to “Topography of Terror”. Review and position determination. Conference report May 21, 2003, Berlin. H-Soz-u-Kult , June 1, 2003, accessed December 21, 2010 .
  2. ↑ Schmitz congratulates on 25 years of “Active Museum”. Press release of the State of Berlin, June 5, 2008, accessed on December 4, 2018.
  3. ↑ Schoolchildren's initiative “Tear Education Blockades!” Regrets damage to the exhibition about Jewish entrepreneurs. In: schulaction.org, November 14, 2008, accessed December 4, 2018.
  4. ↑ Markus Bauer: Delivery on request. Transit Marseille - a Berlin exhibition is dedicated to the American escape helper Varian Fry. NZZ, December 20, 2007, accessed on December 21, 2010 .
  5. ↑ Ariane Thomalla: Without hesitation. Varian Fry: Berlin - Marseille - New York. Review. (No longer available online.) Arte, November 22, 2007, archived from the original on July 22, 2012 ; Retrieved December 21, 2010 .
  6. ↑ Ulrich Gutmair: The Savior. In: taz.de. December 18, 2007, accessed December 21, 2010 .
  7. ↑ Thomas Lackmann : The briefcase hero. “Without hesitation”: a Berlin exhibition about Varian Fry, the escape helper from Marseille. Der Tagesspiegel , November 21, 2007, accessed on December 21, 2010 .
  8. ↑ Michael Schornstheimer : Rescue at the last minute. An exhibition about the American savior of the Jews, Varian Fry. Deutschlandfunk, November 17, 2007, accessed on December 21, 2010 .