#everynamecounts at the Bundestag: Members of Parliament do their bit

“If you come over here you can do a good deed in no time at all. Do you have a minute?” With a few friendly words of encouragement and some helpful information, pupils from four UNESCO project schools soon got talking to the MPs, told them about #everynamecounts, and helped them transcribe data from historical records. “It’s really easy to take part. See the first and last names here on the document? Now all you have to do is type them in.”

Yvonne Magwas (CDU/CSU), Vice President of the German Bundestag, was one of the first to join in. Quick to understand the impact of documents about individual victims of Nazi persecution, she described #everynamecounts as a new form of remembrance. Among the many MPs and Bundestag staff who captured data from historical documents were Bundestag Vice-President Petra Pau (Die Linke), Jens Spahn (CDU/CSU), Konstantin von Notz (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) and Michelle Müntefering (SPD).

A special anniversary when it comes to remembrance

Uwe Neumärker, Director of the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also took part. He highlighted the special significance of the date June 25, 2024, for remembrance work: Exactly 25 years earlier, Members of Parliament in the then capital Bonn had passed the resolution to build the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. “The resolution was not only concerned with honoring the Jewish victims, the German government was committing itself to commemorating all the victims. Seen from that perspective, the Arolsen Archives campaign to “build a digital memorial to all the victims of Nazi persecution” reflects our own mission really. And that’s why we’re here today.”

Politicians learn from young people

It was an exciting day, and the 14 young people who took part learned a lot. It all began with a guided tour of the Bundestag, which gave them an insight into the work of the parliament. The students then spent five hours hard at work for #everynamecounts. “We’re really interested in history so we were keen to visit the Bundestag. It’s really good fun! At school, we’re always listening to people explaining things to us, so it’s nice for us to be able to show people here what we’ve learned,” explained Renana. “Approaching the MPs is actually quite easy,” says Nitin. “They’re just normal people, and they can get involved in voluntary work just like the rest of us.”

Floriane Azoulay, Director of the Arolsen Archives, was thrilled to see how committed the young people were: “We couldn’t have found any better ambassadors for #everynamecounts!” She feels strongly that days of action are particularly important as a way to gain even more supporters. “I’m delighted that so many MPs have joined in here at the Bundestag today, and we hope they’ll encourage their voters to take part in #everynamecounts now too. Because the more volunteers we have, the faster we can digitize all the names.”

We want to thank all the students who took part for their valuable support! They came from Carl-Zeiss-Oberschule, Gutenberg-Oberschule, Marie-Curie-Gymnasium and Sophie-Scholl-Schule.

Would you like to find out more about #everynamecounts in the Bundestag? Read the articles about the day of action (in German) in the newspaper “Das Parlament” or on mitmischen.de, the German Bundestag’s website for young people.