Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation
| Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation | |
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| Legal form: | Foundation under public law |
| Purpose: | Promotion of the memorials on National Socialism in Lower Saxony, sponsor of the Bergen-Belsen memorial and the memorial in the Wolfenbüttel prison |
| Chair: | Lower Saxony Minister of Education, Grant Hendrik Tonne |
| Managing directors: | Jens-Christian Wagner |
| Consist: | since November 18, 2004 |
| Founder: | State of Lower Saxony |
| Seat: | Celle |
| Website: | www.stiftung-ng.de |
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The Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation is a public law foundation funded by the State of Lower Saxony . Your task is to research and dissemination of knowledge about the persecution and resistance in the era of National Socialism from 1933 to 1945. It maintains that for this purpose Memorials in Lower Saxony. The foundation has been based in the Thaersche Villa in Celle since 2010 .
history
The foundation was established with the law on the “Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation” (GedenkStG) of November 18, 2004. It is the successor organization of the department for memorial work and reappraisal of National Socialism and its consequences of the then Lower Saxony State Center for Political Education , which was dissolved by a decision of the cabinet under Prime Minister Christian Wulff and the then Lower Saxony Minister of Education Bernd Busemann on December 31, 2004 for cost reasons.
In the first few years of its existence, the foundation was primarily concerned with the redesign of the Bergen-Belsen memorial . The Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Documentation Center was opened there in 2007 with new permanent exhibitions on the subjects of prisoner-of-war camps , concentration camps and displaced persons camps .
In 2010 the foundation began redesigning the memorial in the Wolfenbüttel prison . After disputes about the portrayal of perpetrators and victims, the foundation's advisory board appointed an international commission in 2011 to provide technical support for the redesign.
After the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was represented in the Lower Saxony state parliament in the 2017 state election, it was entitled to a seat on the foundation council as a parliamentary group under the Foundation Act. The Lower Saxony state parliament then changed the foundation law, according to which the state parliament elects four members as representatives.
tasks
The foundation should pursue the following purpose and tasks:
- Contribute to the fact that the knowledge of the historical events in the years 1933 to 1945, in particular about the history of persecution and resistance in the area of Lower Saxony, is kept alive in the consciousness of the people and passed on.
- Preserve and design the Bergen-Belsen and JVA Wolfenbüttel memorials as places of remembrance of the suffering of the victims of National Socialism and the victims of judicial crimes and as places of learning for future generations.
- Promote the memorial work of private-sponsored initiatives and memorials in Lower Saxony.
- Support research related to historical events from 1933 to 1945 and its consequences.
The foundation should seek scientific advice when performing its tasks. To this end, it cooperates with survivors' associations, museums, archives, memorials, universities and non-university research institutions on a national and international level. In Lower Saxony there is a cooperation with the universities of Braunschweig , Göttingen and Hanover , where foundation employees work as lecturers .
Foundation assets and bodies
When the foundation was established in 2004, the state of Lower Saxony transferred all of its property in the Lohheide district (41.1 hectares in total), on which the Bergen-Belsen memorial was built, free of charge.
The foundation's organs are the board of trustees and the managing director . The Board of Trustees consists of Lower Saxony's minister of education (currently 2018: Grant Hendrik Tonne ) as chairman, one representative from each of the parliamentary groups belonging to the Lower Saxony state parliament and one representative from the Lower Saxony Ministry of Justice , the Lower Saxony Ministry of Finance , the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the State Association of Jewish communities of Lower Saxony . The managing director is responsible for the day-to-day business and the organization of the foundation board. He represents the foundation in and out of court. Since 2014 has Jens-Christian Wagner held the position.
The foundation's committees include the foundation's advisory board, which consists of 24 volunteers. They are sent by corporations, groups and associations that are particularly connected to the purpose of the foundation. The Board of Trustees advises the Board of Trustees on technical issues relating to memorial work and research. The chairman of the foundation board is a member of the foundation board.
activities
The foundation is responsible for the Bergen-Belsen Memorial and the Wolfenbüttel JVA Memorial. At its headquarters in Celle, the foundation maintains a central documentation center on the history of resistance and persecution in Lower Saxony from 1933 to 1945. The foundation's work also includes research and communication projects on the history of National Socialism. The foundation conducts memorial didactics, museum education and human rights education through scientific conferences, exhibitions, publications and advanced training. It also promotes and advises privately owned memorials and memorial initiatives in Lower Saxony that are based on civic engagement. These mainly include the Esterwegen , Moringen , Sandbostel , Augustaschacht and Gestapokeller Osnabrück memorials as well as the Drütte Concentration Camp Memorial and Documentation Center and the Liebenau Documentation Center . The foundation also financially supports trips by school classes to memorial sites.
Through the work of the foundation, work on memorial sites in Lower Saxony has become more professional. The supervised and funded memorials meet the standards of modern contemporary history museums.
Web links
- Literature from and about Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation in the catalog of the German National Library
- Foundation website
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bergen-Belsen: dispute about AfD in the board of trustees. In: The Foundation of February 14, 2018.
- ↑ Concentration camp memorial: AfD is not allowed on the board of trustees. In: NDR.de from February 28, 2018.