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Blick auf das ehemalige Reichsparteitagsgelände aus der Luft

Culture of Remembrance

© Hajo Dietz

How does a society deal with its past, especially with the darker chapters of its history? These questions are at the heart of a culture of remembrance. For the city of Nuremberg, this culture is an essential part of its identity.

After Nuremberg was host of the party congress of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party in 1927 and 1929, after 1933 Nuremberg became the “City of the Party Rallies”. Monumental structures on the former Party Rally grounds at the Dutzendteich in southeastern Nuremberg – parts of which still exist today – bear witness to the darkest chapter of the city’s history.

After an initial practical use of this difficult Nazi legacy, Nuremberg sees itself today as the “City of Peace and Human Rights”. In 1993, the Israeli artist Dani Karavan installed the Way of Human Rights in front of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum. On the pillars of this sculpture, one can read the 30 articles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights written in various languages. In addition, since 1995, the International Nuremberg Human Rights Prize is awarded every two years.

The places of remembrance which contain museums today, such as the Memorium Nuremberg Trials and the Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds, provide important historical and political reappraisal and continuing education. Currently, the city of Nuremberg is occupied with the future use of the architectural relics of National Socialism on the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds, where it is once again clearly obligated to a culture of remembrance.

© Christine Dierenbach

"The culture of remembrance is becoming more global, pluralist and multi-perspectival – therein lies the task for interaction with the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds."

Meron Mendel - Director of the Bildungsstätte Anne Frank | Photo: © Bildungsstätte Anne Frank

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