Thomas Lutz

Thomas Lutz (* 1957 in Darmstadt ) is a German political scientist and head of the memorial department of the Topography of Terror Foundation .

education

Thomas Lutz, opening of the exhibition “Twarz Ghetta” on January 26, 2015 in the Museum of the History of Polish Jews

Lutz graduated from the Paul-Gerhard School in Laubach (Upper Hesse) in 1975 and then studied history, political science and sport in Marburg until 1981. He passed the second state examination for teaching at secondary schools in 1983 in Bensheim .

Founder of the memorial department

Instead of the alternative service, in 1983 he looked after groups of visitors at the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial for the Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste eV (ASF) . Since 1984 he has set up the “Memorial Department” from the ARSP Berlin office, which, with the help of the memorials circular, regularly held seminars, a website on the Internet and individual advisory activities, supports the work of memorials, with a focus on those who are concerned with the recognition and documentation of Nazi victims try to coordinate. As part of his education and public relations work, he also advises governments, parliaments and non-governmental organizations, since 1993 also on behalf of the Topography of Terror Foundation.

Academics

He wrote his dissertation on the development of the new permanent exhibitions in memorials for Nazi victims that have been funded by the Federal Memorial Concept since 2000 and examined museological developments and the educational work based on them ( Hanns-Fred Rathenow , Technische Universität Berlin, Faculty I and Volkhard Knigge , Friedrich -Schiller University Jena). In 2007 he was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC.

The focus of his historical research is the history of the 20th century in Germany , concentrating on the conditions and history of National Socialism (NS) and the state crimes committed during this period in Germany-occupied Europe . Based on this, the reception of National Socialism, the history of the compensation of the victims , the socio-political and museological development of memorials have shaped his professional engagement over the past 25 years. As an educator, through practical experience and theoretical analyzes, he has dealt with memorial site education in comparison to education in schools and museums and human rights education. His understanding of the history of National Socialism includes at least basic knowledge of 20th century European history. In addition, he has worked on the conditions in which democratic societies came into being after the end of dictatorships in various countries and the role of the culture of remembrance and memorial sites in this socio-political process. a. Argentina, GDR / New Federal States, Rwanda, South Africa, South Korea.

curator

Thomas Lutz is - together with Ingo Loose (scientific advice) and Kurt Blank-Markard (design) - curator of the traveling exhibition “ The Face of the Ghetto. Pictures by Jewish Photographers from the Litzmannstadt Ghetto 1940 to 1944 “Topography of Terror and the Łódź City Archives . The exhibition was u. a. on the occasion of the Holocaust Remembrance Day in late winter 2012 in the UN headquarters in New York.

Consultant

Lutz is chairman of the international advisory board of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation and managing director of the working group of concentration camp memorials in Germany. He has been appointed by the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media of the Federal Government to the expert committee to advise on the allocation of funds within the framework of the Federal Memorial Fund. Thomas Lutz is a member of the board of trustees of Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste eV

At the international level, he co-founded the International Council for Memorial Museums for Victims of Public Crimes (IC MEMO) as the international committee of the International Council of Museums in Barcelona in 2001 and was its vice-president for six years. Currently, as a board member, he is again responsible for the program of the annual meetings in Cincinnati and Washington, which has particularly dealt with the history of slavery. Since 2000 he has been one of the German delegates in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). 33 countries are currently working together. He was the founding chairman of their Memorials and Museums Working Group. He advises the UNESCO project to redesign an international exhibition of the Yugoslavia successor states in the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial. In recent years he is u. a. in Croatia (Jasenovac memorial), Greece (at the request of the Foreign Office) and engaged in the current discussion of the history of the Second World War in Southeastern Europe and the locations of the mass shootings in the Second World War from the Baltic states to the Ukraine. He advises the Austrian National Fund, Austrian Ministry of the Interior on the redesign of the Austrian national exhibition at the Auschwitz Memorial.

Publications

In addition to editing the memorials circular, which appears four times a year with a length of 48–64 pages, and overseeing the online memorial forum with a daily press review, he has published books and articles, including a .:

• Stasi = Gestapo? In: Stasi dossier of the Federal Agency for Civic Education online
• with Monika Hölscher, Viola Krause (ed.): History and historical images. The First and Second World Wars. POLIS 57, Hessian State Center for Political Education, Wiesbaden 2016
• with Elke Gryglewski, Verena Haug, Gottfried Kößler, Christa Schikorra (eds.): Memorial site education . Context, theory and practice of educational work on Nazi crimes , Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-86331-243-5 .
• International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (eds.), Thomas Lutz, David Silberklang, Piotr Trojanski, Juliane Wetzel, Miriam Bistrovic (co-editors): Killing Sites - Research and Remembrance , IHRA-series, vol 1, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-86331 -233-6
• International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (ed.); Thomas Lutz, Corry Guttstadt, Bernd Rother, Yessica San Román (co-editors): Bystanders, Rescuers or Perpetrators? The Neutral Countries and the Shoah , IHRA-series, vol 2, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86331-287-9
• Between the claim to mediation and emotional perception. The design of new permanent exhibitions in memorials for Nazi victims in Germany and their educational requirements. Dissertation, Technical University Berlin, 2009 ( full text ).
• Topography of Terror Foundation (ed.), Thomas Lutz (curator): The face of the ghetto. Pictures by Jewish photographers from the Litzmannstadt ghetto 1940–1944. Exhibition catalog (German / English), Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-941772-08-3 .
• with Verena Radkau, Eduard Fuchs (ed.): Genocide and State Violent Crimes in the 20th Century Studies Verlag, Innsbruck et al. 2004, ISBN 3-7065-4060-6 .
• with Dietmar Sedlaczek, Ulrike Puvogel, Ingrid Tomkowiak (eds.): “inferior” and “asocial”. Stations of the persecution of social outsiders. Chronos Verlag, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0716-7 .
• August 23. Theses for the installation of a European day of remembrance for all victims of dictatorships and totalitarianisms. In: Documentation archive of the Austrian resistance (Ed.): Research on National Socialism and its aftermath in Austria. Festschrift for Brigitte Bailer. Vienna 2012, pp. 384–396

Web links

• Online Memorial Forum
• Worldwide overview of important memorials for Nazi victims; German and English
• Lecture “Former Concentration Camps: Perspectives on Regional Memorial Work” at the Karlsruhe Memorial Congress 2005 of the Baden-Württemberg State Foundation ([Baden-Württemberg Foundation]) (PDF file; 118 kB)
• Statement in the culture committee of the German Bundestag, February 16, 2005 (PDF file; 118 kB)
• Lecture stones of contention, Hamburg cultural authority, June 2007 (PDF file; 92 kB)
• Lecture "Discovering and Understanding Educational Work with Testimonies from Victims of National Socialism" at the seminar of the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Berlin, 30./31. January 2009
• Mr. Thomas Lutz Joyce and Arthur Schechter (Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust) Fellow 2007–2008
• “Berlin - Topography of Terror The headquarters of the Nazi regime in the center of the capital” at the hearing “Places of Remembrance in Stuttgart” on July 17, 2010
• rbb Kulturradio talk about the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem on May 24, 2011

Individual evidence

1. ^ Topography of Terror Foundation: 25th Anniversary of the Memorial Museums Department. (PDF) April 2, 2019, accessed April 2, 2019 . 
2. ↑ The face of the ghetto. (PDF) March 6, 2019, accessed March 6, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Annual Report 2001-2005 of IC-MEMO. (PDF) April 2, 2019, accessed April 2, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Theses on the installation of a European day of remembrance for all victims of dictatorships and totalitarianisms. (PDF) April 2, 2019, accessed on April 2, 2019 : “As a founding member and board member of the IC MEMO until 2007, the author carried out numerous events on this topic - mostly in cooperation with other institutions - and was invited to consultations in various post-dictatorial countries and during visits by memorial site staff has had many detailed discussions about the different historical experiences and possibilities of the related educational work. " 
5. ↑ BOARD MEMBERS 2016-2019. April 2, 2019, accessed April 2, 2019 . 
6. ↑ BOARD MEMBERS 2013 - 2016. June 6, 2015, accessed April 2, 2019 . 
7. ↑ 19th ICOM General Conference. April 2, 2019, accessed April 2, 2019 . 
8. ^ Jan-Erik Schulte: Memorial Forum - circular: Preparatory meeting for the establishment of a specialist group for memorials in the International Council of Museums. April 2, 2019, accessed April 2, 2019 . 
9. ↑ Bettina Bouresh, Wullf E. Brebeck and Thomas Lutz: Memorial Forum - Newsletter: IC MEMO - founded International Committee for memorials. April 2, 2019, accessed April 2, 2019 . 
10. ↑ ICMEMO / ICAMT Conference 2017 - Program. (PDF) April 2, 2019, accessed April 2, 2019 .