Memorial site managers expect fresh impetus from the federal government – and more money
Berlin. Those responsible for the German memorial sites for the victims of the Nazi regime more than 80 years ago expect the future Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), Wolfram Weimer, to breathe new life into the culture of remembrance in the Federal Republic.
"We are facing major societal challenges that are having a significant impact on the daily work of memorial sites," Henning Borggräfe, chairman of the Association of Memorial Sites in Germany (VGDF), told the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) on Monday. "Therefore, stable funding for the memorial landscape is needed."
The historian and director of the Cologne Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism pointed out that in many places, the security and structural preservation of historical crime sites cannot be covered by current budgets. "We would like to see a separate fund for construction investments," said Borggräfe.
Memorial: The Dachau Concentration Camp.
Source: Sven Hoppe/dpa
The association also hopes that "the process of necessary updating of the federal memorial site concept" will continue. "The current draft provides a good basis for discussion."
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth's memorial concept more or less failed miserably in 2024. In a "Framework Concept for Remembrance," Roth had proposed "defining new themes and sites of remembrance" around the two main themes of addressing the Nazi dictatorship and the injustices of the SED. Examples would include colonialism, German democratic history, the migrant society, and the remembrance of the NSU murders.
The memorial associations subsequently warned Roth against diluting history and changing historical-political paradigms. The Nazi era and the SED dictatorship in the GDR had resulted in "state-perpetrated mass crimes." Murders committed by individual right-wing extremists should not be equated with state crimes. The concept was subsequently shelved.
Johannes Tuchel, director of the German Resistance Memorial Foundation, therefore emphasizes that he hopes Claudia Roth's successor will continue the office's "responsible approach" to remembrance culture. "Above all, however, the memorial concept must be relaunched and brought to a successful conclusion with the consensus of all involved," the political scientist told the RND.
Axel Drecoll, Director of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation, recalls that an investment program for memorials was announced in the coalition agreement. "In our view, this is urgently needed to permanently preserve the historical buildings and relics, to renew the exhibitions, some of which are more than 25 years old, and to make the memorials as a whole fit for the challenges of the present and future." Drecoll added that he hopes "that the future Minister of State for Culture will quickly launch this investment program."
The President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Hermann Parzinger, sees the new Minister of State for Culture facing major tasks. "The new minister will also inherit major projects such as the renovation of the Pergamon Museum, the construction of 'berlin modern' at the Kulturforum, and the general renovation of the State Library," he told the RND. "berlin modern" is intended to create a new museum for 20th-century art. At a current estimated cost of 364 million euros, it would be the most expensive museum building in German history. The client is the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.
Currently being renovated: The Pergamon Museum will not fully reopen until 2037.
Source: Jens Kalaene/dpa
Parzinger, however, does not foresee a new debate about a possible renaming of the foundation, which Weimer's predecessor, Claudia Roth, had initiated: "The name debate is not currently on the agenda. Everything that needs to be said about that has actually been said."
“The German Film Academy has always maintained a close and trusting collaboration with the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, and we hope to be able to continue the constructive relationship with the BKM in the future,” said Vicky Krieps and Florian Gallenberger from the Presidium of the German Film Academy.
"The film industry urgently needs new framework conditions, the basic outlines of which are already included in the coalition agreement and must now be truly implemented with the new government and the new Minister of State," the two continued. "We have outstanding filmmakers and creatives in Germany and need this film funding reform to unlock our potential and make German film competitive again."
Dietmar Schwarz, artistic director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which receives federal funding under the Capital Financing Agreement, first needs to get a feel for the new politician. "Since I haven't met Wolfram Weimer yet, I can't really judge this person," he told RND. The fact that Weimer appears to be less well-connected in the cultural scene than his predecessor, Claudia Roth, doesn't have to be a problem in his eyes. "The first Minister of State for Culture, Michael Naumann, was also a publicist and publisher and didn't really have a background in artistic practice."
Schwarz also expresses a hope: "In the German federal system, the Minister of State for Culture is primarily responsible for cultural and socio-political issues, while the actual funding of art and culture is a matter for the states – I would like to see such new, pioneering impulses for cultural policy issues from the recently appointed Minister of State for Culture." This, Schwarz continues, "was somewhat neglected under the more reactive last Minister of State for Culture."
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