#DIGITALMEMORY ONLINE CONFERENCE – NEW PERSPECTIVES
FOR MEMORIALS
TO THOSE PERSECUTED
BY NATIONAL SOCIALISM
. For a long time, memorials have been activists in digital transformation, with many places using digital means to educate on Nazi persecution. On 26 and 27 November 2021 the Foundation of Hamburg Memorials and Learning Centres organised the online conference ‘#DigitalMemory - New Perspectives for Memorials to those persecuted by National Socialism’. The conference looked at the relationship between digital innovations in remembrance culture and the work of memorials.
The conference brought experts from theory and practice from different institutions and disciplines together in three panels and was able to make a contribution to the shaping of the new hybridity arising out of the interaction of memorials at the sites of National Socialist crimes and the digital world. Opportunities and challenges, as well as approaches and concepts for memorial work in the 21st century were discussed.
The first panel: ‘Challenges from outside’ was moderated by Prof. Dr. Habbo Knoch (University of Cologne) and referred to various factors in the digital transformation process. Jun.-Prof. Dr. Christian Bunnenberg (Ruhr-Universität Bochum) explained the opportunities and challenges in the interplay of digital media and historical learning from the perspective of the didactics of history, analysing in particular the changes in learning behaviour and explaining that historical learning is inconceivable without a critical approach to media objectifications of history. Dr. Steffi de Jong and Felix Zimmermann (both from the University of Cologne) discussed representations of the Holocaust in VR and computer games. While de Jong, taking the assumption inherent in virtual reality, that it enables ‘empathy’ with historical events, subjected the concept of empathy to critical reflection. Zimmermann asked to what extent ‘empathy’ and ‘distancing’ are possible at the same time. Can the game world actually be more than purely a space for adventures? In the following discussion, particular emphasis was placed on the difference between experiencing history and experiencing the past. The question of the extent to which the digital transformation dissolves conventional concepts such as the past, history and empathy and forces a rethink emerged as a central issue. It is the task of the memorial sites to become aware of the possible misunderstandings and dangers and to actively shape the process.
While the first panel laid the theoretical groundwork, the participants in the second panel, ‘Collecting, Researching, Exhibiting’ moderated by Stefan Willbricht (Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial), introduced concrete examples of application from the field of memorial sites. Dr. Henning Borggräfe (Arolsen Archives) gave an insight into the crowdsourcing campaign #everynamecounts , in which users access historical documents of former concentration camp prisoners via the Zooniverse platform. The participatory character in particular is a great strength of the project, which has been enormously popular with almost 22,000 registered participants and 4.5 million documents processed so far. Dr. Christiane Heß (Foundation of Hamburg Memorials and Learning Centres) presented the interdisciplinary database for concentration camp artefacts at the Ravensbrück concentration camp memorial site, which now comprises of 160 objects, which is to be made accessible to a wider public as an open access resource . The central approach of the database is to work out the different levels of meaning of the artefacts and then to make them searchable. Martina Staats (JVA Wolfenbüttel Memorial) presented the digital and interactive elements in the JVA Wolfenbüttel permanent exhibition . The digital elements became the most important items in guiding visitors through the exhibition. The starting point for the project "Voices of the Victims" presented by Dr. Karola Fings (University of Heidelberg) was the fact that the history of the National Socialist persecution and extermination of Sinti and Roma people has so far been told almost exclusively from the perspective of the perpetrators. In the centre of the project initiated and carried out in particular by members of the community, are therefore the self-representations of those affected. In the following discussion the problems of collaboration, resources and common standards were discussed: How can a permanent online presence be guaranteed? How can data(bases) of different institutions be connected with one another? What data is suitable for online presentation?
The second day of the conference began with a discussion moderated by Dr. Iris Groschek (Foundation of Hamburg Memorials and Learning Centres) on the theme of ‘Social Media and Educational Opportunities’. Dr. Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) discussed the contribution of social media for a participatory memory, especially taking into account the platform TikTok. He sees social media platforms as important elements when looking at the future remembrance of the Holocaust. The question is how good memorial sites are at translating their analogue content into the logic of social media and thus creating a virtual memory space as their own part in the diverse and communicative world of memory and remembrance as well as stimulating discourse. Tessa Bouwman (Bergen-Belsen Memorial) presented the Instagram tours of the Bergen-Belsen memorial that begun after the closing of the memorial due to Corona in spring 2020 and which have been able to generate high coverage even with simple means. Relatively few research studies have investigated the potential of Holocaust museums' use of social media as new memory ecologies. The empirical education researcher Dr. Martin Rehm (Pedagogical University of Weingarten) dealt with the evaluation of social media data for digital Holocaust memory on a methodological level and was able to give tips on where to find the gaps in the priorities of institutions on social media platforms. Pia Schlechter (University of Oldenburg) discussed negotiating the (in)appropriateness of selfies. Inequalities would have an influence on the assessment of this (e.g. homosexual vs heterosexual, young vs old, German vs non-German memorial visitors). The following stimulating discussion picked up on the panellists, in which amongst other things, the responsibility of memorials to make certain topics more visible was talked about. Digital formats do not reflect analogue offerings, but rather through their cross-border, barrier-free approaches, create new potential for participation.
In a roundtable conversation, moderated by Prof. Dr, Habbo Knoch, Andreas Ehresmann (Sandbostel Camp Memorial), Prof. Dr. Detlef Garbe (Foundation of Hamburg Memorials and Learning Centres), Dr. Andrea Genest (Memorial Museum Ravensbrück) and Juliane Grossmann (Nazi Forced Labor Documentation Center), as representatives of different memorials exchanged insights from the conference. There was agreement amongst the participants that digital offerings should be considered as an extension or as something independent when compared to the concrete places of remembrance. Digital formats not only served to open up new target groups, but also corresponded to a change in expectations while also enabling participatory approaches. The Corona pandemic has fortunately accelerated many digitalisation processes. However, there would still be a need for action in terms of resources or technical equipment. There is also the need for action with regard to the more difficult access to resources for smaller memorial sites. Furthermore, the participants also discussed ways to improve such as networking, increased efforts in the area of open source data and efforts in the area of change management. The conference ended with a view on the increasing relevance of memorial work in the digital space.
Text: Lennart Onken, Lisa Webner, Iris Groschek
Translation: Daniel Cartwright
The concentration camp in augmented reality, the survivor as ‘hologram’, talking about history on TikTok: there are many challenges when we talk about recent developments in memorials, that arise in the context of the fundamental digitalisation of our lives.
Lennart Onken, Lisa Webner, Iris Groschek