Have a look at the descriptions of the workshops
Week 1
Introduction to the Yiddish Language
Yiddish was the most spoken language by Jewish people before the Holocaust. Nowadays it is estimated to be spoken by about 250.000 people worldwide, most of them Jewish. In our workshop we want to give you a broad overview about all things Yiddish: the history of the language and its current status, the impact of Yiddish and about Jewish diversity!
Culture of Remembrance
The memorial site Dachau has come a long way – just like the way we remember nowadays. In this workshop we want to take a closer look at the various questions that come up when we think about Culture of Remembrance. Why is it important to remember the victims of national socialism and when did we even start to do so? What do we actually mean when we talk about remembrance? In addition to the development in Dachau and Germany we also want to see what remembrance looks like in other countries. And last but not least there is this big question: What can culture of remembrance look like in the future?
The Third Reich – it’s system, rise and fall
This workshop forms the basis for the entire two weeks in which we will deal with the period of National Socialism. In this three-day-workshop, we will explore together how it’s ideology took hold in German population and under which historical and economic conditions the National Socialists came to power. Furthermore, we will deal with the extermination concepts of the Nazis and their well-thought-out propaganda, as well as their ideology to create a healthy and pure Aryan race. Finally, we will also look at the reappraisal of and reactions to this part of German history.
Resistance during the Third Reich
The topic of resistance to the Third Reich is one which many participants have probably encountered in some way – stories of people such as Sophie Scholl or Claus Stauffenberg have become symbols in popular culture and popular memory for resistance to an oppressive and murderous dictatorship. However, these two examples only scratch the surface of the diverse and (at times) conflicting motivations and experiences of resistance fighters and activists who opposed the Nazi regime.
Participants of this workshop will acquire basic knowledge of the many different aspects of resistance to the Third Reich – what did resistance look like? Who was involved? How did it function? And why did people put their lives at risk to resist the Nazis? We will focus on resistance inside the regime, in the occupied territories, and inside the concentration camps.
Additionally, through a self-motivated research project with assistance from the teamers, participants will have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the specific topic which interests them, and to share this knowledge with their fellow participants by presenting their research.
There will be an optional trip for participants to go to the Memorial to the White Rose in Munich in order to see the topic of resistance presented in a museum setting. The stories of resistance are stories of passion, ideals, and courage. However, they are also complicated stories of human survival; colored by political milieus, personal choice, and cultural nuance. We look forward to exploring the many sides to this topic with you.
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg trials, held from 1945 to 1949, were an extremely important moment in history, international law, and human rights. The leaders of the Nazi regime had to answer for their crimes before an International Military Tribunal between November 20, 1945, and October 1, 1946. With all the wars being waged in the world nowadays, it is important as ever to educate oneself about the concept of war crimes and responsibility being carried for those. In our workshop, we will explore and analyze the very first Nuremberg trial along with the subsequent ones. We will learn about the charges, the trial process, the influence of the Nuremberg trials on the international law and human rights, as well as study the criticism directed at the process and the outcome of the trials.
Week 2
Marginalized prisoner groups – “asocials”, “criminals” and homosexuals
Remembering the victims of the national socialism is a big part of today’s culture of remembrance. But what about the groups of prisoners that are often left out of process of remembering? In this workshop you will learn about the so called “asocial”, the “criminal” and the homosexual prisoners. With different biographies you will get a better insight in their life before, during and after the time of national socialism – to see what similar patterns exist, as well as to recognize their differences.
Photographic Memory: Developing Approaches to Photos of the Holocaust as Historical Sources
In this workshop, participants will more closely examine photos from the Holocaust through the critical lens of source-analysis. To further develop this approach, there will first be an introductory session to discuss photography as a medium itself. Impressions from this introduction will then be applied to a small exhibition of photos from the Holocaust, which will exhibit photos taken by Nazi perpetrators, Allied liberators, victims of the holocaust themselves and the civilian population. We will discuss important topics such as authorship, purpose, content, context etc.. We hope that, through your participation in this workshop, you will have a wider view of what these crucially important sources mean to the history of the holocaust. We look forward to your participation.
***This workshop will involve the visual presentation of content which some participants might find disturbing.
Creative Writing
Creative writing is a way to express your thoughts and feelings and let them flow in text form. Creative writing means taking time for your emotions and the thoughts that move you at the moment. Especially after participating in some workshops about the in many points shocking and saddening topic of National Socialism and the Holocaust we want to offer you a space and time to bring your feelings in text form. (Of course, we will also give you some basic instructions and knowledge about creative writing at the beginning of the workshop!)
Propaganda in the Third Reich – and today
“Germans choose” can be read in big letters on a poster that was put up all around Germany in 1932. Posters were a significant part of the National Socialist propaganda campaign orchestrated by the propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. In this workshop, we will discuss different forms of propaganda in the Third Reich and the impact it had on German society then. In addition to that, we will look into the ways in which propaganda has developed after the rise of the internet and social media.
Memory Politics and Populism
Are you interested into politics? Do you want to know more about populism in different countries from all over the world? Do you want to learn how to decode the misuse of the past in politics? If you can answer at least one of these questions with “yes”, you should join our workshop on memory politics and populism! After a short introduction where we will learn more about the concept of left- and right-wing populism and get to know some means of memory politics that a state or its government can realize, we will talk about different examples from countries in Europe and around the world. Additionally, we will reflect about politicians and their political agenda with the help of an exemplary speech. Questions to analyze this could be: Which party/political organization does the speaker belong to? For which political thinking does he/she stand for? What are his/her aims? If you are interested in the topics related to history as an instrument in politics, join us for this workshop!
What remains? Documents of Arolsen Archives
How can we learn more about individual prisoners? How can we keep the memory of the victims alive?
Over 200,000 prisoners were registered in Dachau concentration camp. From some, we have personal accounts, diaries, pictures, from others only documents of the perpetrators have remained. The perpetrators kept records of the deportations to the concentration camps.
A lot of times victims were persecuted for years and deported to several concentration camps. One way to learn more about the prisoners is to study the documents. The Arolsen Archives has collected thousands of them. In this workshop we will learn more about the documents, work with the online archive and participate in a project to keep the memory of the prisoners.
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