Exhibition
No future without knowledge of the past:
The memorial and learning place “House of Remembrance – for democracy and acceptance”
Prof. Anja Stöffler & Prof. Dr. Anett Mehler-Bicher
As a place of remembrance culture, the “House of Remembrance – for democracy and acceptance” was opened in Mainz on 11 April 2018. The place of remembrance combines knowledge of the crimes of the National Socialist dictatorship in Germany with the struggle for democracy and acceptance in Rhineland-Palatinate’s capital city, which is characterised by diversity. The aim of the Documentation and Education Centre is to promote democratic awareness and the willingness to engage in civil society with young people and adults who oppose extremist tendencies.
Documentary recordings of historical events and interviews with contemporary witnesses and Nazi crimes and resistance in Mainz in order to keep the memory of the National Socialist past and the associated exclusion and persecution of people alive in words and pictures and to address a younger audience in particular, the “House of Remembrance – for Democracy and Acceptance” presents a variety of media installations in a museum composition for society to experience and interactively use. Anja Stöffler and Prof. Dr. Anett Mehler-Bicher as project partners.
The starting point was a seminar by Prof. Anja Stöffler in which students from the Institute for Media Design developed a “path” with ten stations. Methods of exclusion, the “disappearance” of the victims and the crimes of the perpetrators can be experienced by the visitors with the help of interactive media installations. Ideas for the content of the stations were developed by Joachim Schulte, Dr Hedwig Brüchert, Hans Berkessel, Dr Frank Teske, Angelika Arenz-Morch and Dr Ralph Erbar.
At four stations, visitors to the learning venue have the opportunity to examine their attitudes to democracy and acceptance:
The “we” of a society – and who belongs to it
Mechanisms of exclusion
Civil courage – and how it works
Rules of democratic coexistence
Medial Installationen
Taking advantage of the special nature of the premises, an “axis” was laid from the glass pavilion with the “faces of democracy” to the “Room of Names”, where the Sinti and Jews deported from Mainz are named. “In between” are stations that show the ways of exclusion, resistance and democratic coexistence.
Room of Names
The “Room of Names” is a media installation which, in a darkened area of the exhibition, brings to mind the names of around 1,600 people from Mainz/Rheinhessen who were deported and murdered by the Nazi dictatorship. “The Room of Names, which offers the possibility of coming to terms with the injustices of the time, is designed in a correspondingly contemplative manner,” emphasizes Prof. Anja Stöffler, one of the two project managers.
Room of Names
Faces of Democracy
Pavillon: Faces of democracy
The exhibition space includes an external rectangular glass pavilion, which can be seen from all sides and is used for exhibitions. Georg Forster, Heinrich von Gagern, Elisabeth Selbert, Willy Brandt and Navid Kermani are among the exemplary democrats whose life and work are presented to visitors in the installation “Faces of Democracy” with pictures and quotations.
The Decision Game (App)
Unselfish, realistic, fearful or selfish?
With the interactive “decision game”, behavioural tendencies in the group can be shown.
“What would you do if you inherited a valuable ring, but the grandmother bought it from fleeing Jews for less than its value at the time?”
This is one of the questions in the interactive “decision game”, in which up to 30 people can participate via iPad, in order to test their own acceptance and then discuss it in conversation. “Through the various game modes, the multi-user game offers opportunities for individual reflection, but also for intensive discussion in the group,” explains Prof. Dr. Anett Mehler-Bicher, also a project manager.
“We are pleased to be able to support this eminently important project with 25,000 euros from the university management’s Innovation Fund, which was set up specifically for interdisciplinary projects. The ‘House of Remembrance – for Democracy and Acceptance’ is a prime example of an interdisciplinary transfer project in which we can contribute our expertise,” emphasised Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gerhard Muth, President of the University of Applied Sciences Mainz.
Broad Programme
Since the “House of Remembrance – for Democracy and Acceptance” sees itself as a living educational institution, the permanent exhibition is supplemented by a wide range of workshops for schoolchildren and young people as well as further training seminars for teachers. In addition, the “House of Remembrance – for Democracy and Acceptance” will also be a venue for film screenings as well as public lectures and discussion forums dealing with current fundamental questions of a democratic civil society.
The responsible organisation is the non-profit “Foundation House of Remembrance – for Democracy and Acceptance”, which was founded in 2015 by representatives of civil society as well as the city of Mainz and the Mainz-Bingen district.
Faces of Democracy
Idea: Anja Stöffler, Anett Mehler-Biecher, Max Wolf (MESO)
Technology: Norbert Seemayer, Max Wolf, Norman Eschenfelder
Draft: Bartek Wieczorek
Animation: Florian Geyer (finaly studio)
Construction Installation: Manfred Liedtke, Oliver Kelm, Uwe Zentgraf
Room of Names
Idea: Anja Stöffler, Stefanie Grimminger
Technology Planning: Norbert Seemayer, Max Wolf (MESO)
Programming: Jonathan Kaiser, Nils Weger
Technology: Norbert Seemayer,Norman Eschenfelder
Sounddesign: Sebastian Hohberg
Audio and Mix: Ralf Schönwiese
Decision game
Idea: Katrin Skoneczka
Design: Tabish Ahmad
Text: Volker S. Stahr, Anett Mehler-Bicher, Joachim Schulte
Programming: Daniel Schwarz (takomat)
Supervision: Anja Stöffler
Project management: Prof. Anja Stöffler (University of Applied Sciences Mainz, Institute for Media Design) and Prof. Dr. Anett Mehler-Bicher (University of Applied Sciences Mainz, Business Informatics)
Joachim Schulte (Chairman of the board of the foundation)
Hans Berkessel (Chairman of the Board of Foundation)
Manfred Liedtke (Projectmanagement)
Max Wolf/ Fa. MESO (Media technology)
Bartek Wieczorek (Interior design)
Tabish Ahmad (Media designer, Game Interfacedesign)
Prof. Daniel Schwarz (Takomat / iPad Programming)
Jonathan Kaiser, Nils Weger (programming / Room of Names)
Sebastian Hohberg (music composition / Room of Names)
Finally (TV- and Screendesign / Faces of democracy)
Ralf Schönwiese (Audiotechnique and -design)
Construction and technical team: Norbert Seemayer, Norman Eschenfelder, Uwe Zentgraf
Fotos: Katharina Dubno
You can find more information here: https://www.haus-des-erinnerns-mainz.de/