National Socialism in Karlsruhe

How do young people experience history? This year, the cross-school project »Nationalism in Karlsruhe« has again dealt artistically with the subject of »National Socialism« and opened up innovative ways for pupils to learn, experience, feel and help shape history in and outside school.

Since five years the project partnership »National Socialism in Karlsruhe. 1933–1945« offers the eponymous cross-school seminar course – a combination of scientific and artistic work to try out new forms of commemoration. The results will be shown from June 27 – July 26, 2019 at the Gallery of jubez, afterwards they can be seen from August 03 – August 04, 2019 at ZKM Karlsruhe.

In addition, the pupils from the three partner schools (Bismarck, Goethe and Helmholtz Gymnasiums), together with the Stadtjugendausschuss Karlsruhe (stja) and the ZKM, will invite all citizens from 5 pm on Thursday, June 27, to engage themselves with the question of »How much history is in you?« At the Kronenplatz, interactive stations will be set up to encourage people to linger, discuss and participate. The experiences and thoughts can be actively followed under #dugeschichte.

DO YOU SE HISTORY? #DUGESCHICHTE

Being stamped off! Categorized, sorted, filed! To react to diversity and individuality according to prefabricated patterns, but also to disappear behind the anonymity and always the same appearance of a stamp. Incoming stamps, official stamps, passport stamps – while reading historical documents from the Nazi era, we repeatedly came across stamps that usually made something official, that showed how people become part of a dictatorial administrative apparatus, how whole destinies can hang on a stamp. Only a few characters can be depicted on a stamp. A word, a date, even a letter can be decisive for the consequences of a stamp. Combine the letter stamps into words that answer the questions and statements on display. Do you stamp yourself? Do you stamp history?

DO YOU HEAR HISTORY? #DUGESCHICHTE

How can you depict complexity? How to make the juxtaposition of different attitudes and positions clear? Is it possible to hear individual voices out of this multitude? Are you able to filter out nuances? The past was as polyphonic as the present. Different opinions in spontaneous statements, official documents, newspapers, songs or poems existed and exist in parallel. Many things were and are casual, without consequences. Some utterances, however, influence the life of a single person. In a more visually oriented time, we want to address the auditory senses by creating a carpet of sound from several audio tracks. We want to ask you to listen carefully, to pay attention to opinion and mood makers, but also to contribute yourself.

DO YOU FEEL HISTORY? #DUGESCHICHTE

Are you a KSC fan out of conviction or because it's the latest fashion? Do you know what happens to your photos on WhatsApp? Do you follow an influencer? When do we act self-determined? When do we orient ourselves to the guidelines of others? These questions challenge us today, but are even more pressing when confronted with an unjust state like the Nazi regime. The preoccupation with various individual fates from this period repeatedly raises the question of the individual's scope for action, of the extent to which a person in a dictatorship can still act in a self-determined manner, or how much of a puppet is still hanging from the threads of the powerful. When do you act self-determined today, when as a puppet? Do you feel yourself? Do you feel history?