What remains? Workshop discussion on conveying history eighty years after the end of the war in the Eifel.

The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. and the AG Luftkriegsgeschichte Rhein/Mosel e.V. Interested parties are invited to an all-day excursion (10 am - 5 pm) to the silent legacies of the war in the Eifel - eighty years after the end of the war. As part of the dialog-oriented workshop format "Objects tell history(ies)", two historical sites will be visited that exemplify the material and cultural traces of the war.

The first part leads to the Malakoff building at Vogelsang IP, where the AG Luftkriegsgeschichte Rhein/Mosel e.V. presents its working methods and its concept for the future exhibition on the air war. The focus is on the question of how parts of crashed aircraft can be displayed in a museum without aestheticizing the war. At the same time, the aim is to discuss how a critical examination of complex topics such as forced labor, Nazi ideology and the social fascination with aviation can be initiated.

In the second part, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (German War Graves Commission) will give a tour of the Rurberg/Simmerath war cemetery. Over two thousand mainly Soviet war dead are buried here, who died during inhumane forced labor and bombing raids. Like museums, the design of such cemeteries is also subject to changes in the culture of remembrance. On site, we will reflect on the extent to which historical sites make human suffering and responsibility comprehensible and what role war cemeteries can play today as places of collective remembrance.

At the end of the excursion, the impressions of both stations will be brought together. The joint discussion will focus on how museums and war cemeteries can become lively places for dialog and intercultural encounters and what new perspectives they can open up on war, the culture of remembrance and responsibility.

Time: 10.00-17.00
Costs: free
Location: Schleiden-Vogelsang, Vogelsang IP, Vogelsang
Info-Tel.: 0221. 2577169
E-Mail: konstanze.bauer@volksbund.de

Registration now at rg-rheinland@volksbund.de or 0221/2573295.