Education Agenda: NS-Injustice
Berlin: Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ) (2023), 44 pp.
"The Education Agenda NS-Injustice started in autumn 2021 with two certainties: Firstly, the survivors are passing away; there are few chances today to meet eyewitnesses who can tell us first-hand about the atrocities committed by the National Socialists. Secondly, we are increasingly entering contexts in which boundaries between fiction and fact are blurred. Under these conditions, we are dependent on new ways of learning and innovative forms of conveyance in our critical examination of National Socialist injustice and in historical-political educational work. But what are these innovative forms of conveyance? Certainly they are more than mere apps and VR glasses. Digitality is an important factor, but by no means the only one. That is why our projects also work in an analog and participatory way: whether through a play, a research project or the curation of an exhibition. By involving people with different biographies, we strengthen knowledge about the history of National Socialism and its continuing effects in the here and now. Victim-centered, diversity-sensitive, and interdisciplinary: these are other criteria that make the projects of the Education Agenda NS-Injustice so special. Our MEMO Youth Study, published in spring 2023, clearly shows that young people are aware of current societal challenges. They are interested in Nationalist Socialist history and see points of reference to today’s social issues and conflicts. But with the passage of time, knowledge about Nationalist Socialist history and the Holocaust is declining. At the same time, a large number of young people want to participate in educational offerings on Nationalist Socialist history — to acquire knowledge, to visit historical sites, and to understand the links between past and present. The EVZ Foundation and its funded projects are committed to this mission — also and especially with the Education Agenda NS-Injustice, which focuses on young, working people, and those interested in history. For today, educational biographies do not end with a high school or college degree. One example of ongoing education is the initiative of the EVZ Foundation “Informed, Courageous, Committed!” This three-fold objective not only describes the ingredients for effective educational work; it also stands for a project of the Education Agenda NS-Injustice that commences where thousands of people meet every day: the workplace. A multimedia blended learning format with both classroom and e-learning trains employees of German companies, whether apprentices or managers, to deal sensitively with antisemitism and imparts intervention skills. For more than two years now, the projects of this multidimensional funding program have been in full swing. In this first issue, we are pleased to present groundbreaking projects and current discourses on the culture of remembrance and education about National Socialist injustice." (Welcome, page 4)