Modern commemoration

Your three institutions organized the full-day commemorative event in Ohrdruf on April 4, 2025. What was particularly important to you during planning?

Birthe Pater

What really mattered to us was to organize a commemorative event by young people for young people. Around 150 pupils joined with us to prepare the day and even organized parts of it themselves.

Holger Obbarius

We were determined to involve local stakeholders as well. Some of them have been dedicated to this work for years, so it was important to avoid creating the impression that we were simply reaping what they had sown. Instead, our intention was to add fertilizer to make the harvest even richer ─ to stick with our analogy.

Christoph Mauny

The fact that this was successful is all down to the sensitive and committed team. For the young people in Thuringia – many of whom feel politically isolated and under pressure – working on this project was extremely empowering.

The commemorative event was one of the highlights of the remembrance project. Mr. Mauny, you got the ball rolling in 2022. How did that come about?

Christoph Mauny

I was born in Thuringia and had already been a research assistant at a large museum in the region for five or six years when I first heard about the camp. When I saw the situation there, I was shocked: Bundeswehr military training area, nature reserve, conspiracy theories ─ a period of German history that has remained closed off to remembrance, both culturally – in terms of remembrance – and physically. The opportunity arose at the time to develop a fresh concept for educational work in the museum. This resulted in the Deutsche Erinnerungslücke KZ Ohrdruf (German Memory/Remembrance Gap Ohrdruf Concentration Camp) project, which seeks to create a place of remembrance for the victims and to find new forms of remembrance.

The Arolsen Archives’ main contribution to the project is digital expertise, and the #everynamecounts campaign is one example. Volunteers digitized around 20,000 names of prisoners from Ohrdruf concentration camp in 2023. Ms. Pater, how is digitalization changing remembrance and historical-political education?

Birthe Pater

Digitizing our documents, a process that began back in the 1990s, has broken down barriers. Biographies of victims of Nazi persecution have suddenly become accessible to the general public. This has transformed both our work and our mission.

In 2024, arolsen school published the “Suspicious” digital learning module, which provides virtual access to the grounds of the former concentration camp and invites young people to explore traces of the Nazi past. Mr. Obbarius, you use the module at your memorial site. Can you describe the benefits?

Holger Obbarius

Suspicious is very accessible and was specifically designed for young people, who naturally find the digital format appealing. They can click their way through the 360-degree world of the former camp. A built-in reward system helps to keep them motivated.
We have noticed that young people spend a long time on the Suspicious module. And they retain a lot of facts and details. The way the material is presented seems to have an activating effect on memory, encouraging students to develop a historical imagination. It also motivates them to take action – afterwards, many young people turn to us and ask, “What can we do?”

Aside from digital education, the project also included hands-on activities. Mr. Mauny, young people use art to investigate the Nazi past at workshops held by the Weimar Painting and Drawing School. Can you share some insights into your experience with this approach?  

Christoph Mauny

I can give you two examples: In preparation for the commemorative event, young people produced “cyanotypes” using an early photographic technique also known as blueprinting. We used Nazi documents as source material, including photos of prisoners. In many cases, artistic techniques combined with a participant’s individual artistic approach to transform the cold Nazi records into beautiful, dignified portraits.
The intergenerational tandems were another idea. Young people used photos of concentration camp prisoners to create clay sculptures, into which they embedded seeds. They then laid down these sculptures during the commemorative event together with relatives of the victims. The clay had not been fired, so the material will be absorbed into the landscape over time. Maybe something will bloom, maybe not. 

Ms. Pater, a panel discussion with pupils was one of the components of the event. What expectations do young people have of commemorative work today?

Birthe Pater

The pupils sitting on the podium all had experience of remembrance projects. And the message was clear: Young people really care about getting involved and taking action. They want a pluralistic culture of remembrance in which they hold a stake. They want to be heard. And they look for points of reference in the circumstances of their own lives. They want to understand: What does this have to do with me?

To what extent did the commemorative event achieve this goal?

Birthe Pater

I think it is a good example of a form of remembrance that is both contemporary and dignified. Firstly, because many different perspectives were represented. Participants included relatives of the victims, the Bundeswehr – which has a military training area in Ohrdruf – representatives of the town and the state, volunteers from local projects, and international guests such as US Consul General John R. Crosby and a delegate from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, who represented the perspective of the liberators. 
There were classic elements such as a wreath-laying ceremony. But also elements like the intergenerational tandems or the discussions between young people, relatives, and liberators. You might even say that the event was an exercise in democracy education, seeing as democracy is learned through action. We gave young people the opportunity to take action and be part of something meaningful.

Christoph Mauniy

Yes, together with the young people, we gazed into the abyss, but no-one seemed bored at all, because the young people saw themselves as an active participants and realized that simple actions can make a difference.

What’s next for the Ohrdruf remembrance project?

Birthe Pater

During the panel discussion, the pupils repeatedly emphasized how important these networking opportunities are for them. We want to pick up on this and continue to work with young people. For example, I could imagine us handing over full responsibility for the commemorative event to them next year.

Christoph Mauny

We would like to give the young people even more creative leeway and continue to develop our formats. One idea is to work with other materials, such as textiles, glass, or shell limestone from Jonas valley, where the prisoners had to perform forced labor.

Holger Obbarius

We have plans to use the feedback we received about Suspicious to develop another digital learning module about another former sub-camp. One point of criticism was the absence of a female perspective. This prompted us to select the Penig women’s camp in Saxony, where the module will tell the story of persecuted women as well as female SS guards.