A lecturer at Bonn University’s Department of Geography, Astrid Mehmel recently accompanied a group of twenty German students from that department on a study tour to Israel.

“Our students have to undertake a two week period in another country and so we arranged for this group to come here,” explained Astrid during a recent visit to Givat Haviva.

At the end of the Givat Haviva seminar – comprising a lecture and extended tour of the Green Line/security fence and divided village of Barta’a – Astrid Mehmel presented the writer (and group’s Green Line tour guide) with a CD of Ludwig van Beethoven.

“Of course, coming from Bonn this is the natural choice of music to give you in appreciation of such an interesting and thought provoking tour,” said Astrid, making the presentation in a moving bus a few minutes before I was due to disembark.

Together with the music Astrid handed over a pamphlet – in English – describing the courses of study, lectures and seminars, and professional fields open to graduates – all of which pretty impressive.

She also handed over a second English language pamphlet describing a permanent exhibition at the City Museum in Bonn, a Holocaust memorial exhibition.

In the few minutes left before parting, Astrid explained that she was a member of the Association responsible for the Bonn Memorial Center that has been researching Bonn under the National Socialists, and spoke a little about Holocaust survivors from Israel who had undertaken a painful journey back to their pre-war roots in that city at the invitation of the Bonn authorities and whom she had met.

Unfortunately, a most interesting conversation was cut short.

Browsing through the pamphlet describing the exhibition – spread over a foyer and 3 rooms – one learns a great deal and so therefore decided to report some of the text herewith.

 

FOYER

“Reichskrinstallnacht” saw the issuing of the command to burn down all German synagogues.  The Bonn synagogue was consequently set alight and razed to the ground on 10 November 1938.  The installation in the entrance area of the commemorative exhibition displays fragments of the synagogue originally located on the banks of the river Rhine, which were discovered during excavations in 1987.

ROOM 1

Introduction … and suddenly, you were no longer a part of it all …

This room provides an introduction to the subject.  A picture of the Friedsplatz in Bonn taken in the 1930s gives the impression of what looks to be perfectly normal everyday life.  However, other photos direct the eye to some of the inhabitants of Bonn, who were excluded from normal society when the National Socialists assumed power in 1933.  The room also exhibits a number of pictures illustrating persecution and showing the places in Bonn where acts of terror where perpetrated.  These images clearly testify to the threat posed by the National Socialists.

Railway tracks on the ceiling symbolize the road from Bonn to the concentration camps.

A map shows the routes and target destinations of those being deported or compelled to flee.

 

ROOM 2

Documentary evidence

A number of exhibits and detailed personal case histories document the systematic persecution of individuals and groups segregated, persecuted and murdered during the National Socialist era.

(The documentary evidence portion of the museum deals with many different connected topics as well as multimedia exhibits)

 

ROOM 3

Memorial Room

The installation consists of black frames containing the names and photos of those inhabitants of Bonn known according to current information to have been murdered by the National Socialist government.  The exhibit also includes individuals sent their death from Bonn.

 

ASSOCIATION

Since its establishment in 1984, the Association responsible for the Bonn Memorial Center has been researching Bonn under the National Socialists.  A temporary exhibition was originally staged in a small villa situated in Bad Godesberg and on 10 November 1996, the first standing exhibition commemorating Bonn’s victims of National Socialism finally opened in the Franziskanerstrasse in Bonn.

In 2005, work began on the fundamental restructuring and expansion of the exhibition, with the aim of introducing new historical evidence which has come to light into an up-to-date setting.

The memorial exhibition documents the persecution, suffering and murder of Bonn’s victims under the National Socialist regime.  It illustrates the deliberate intent on the part of the National Socialist dictatorship and its impact on everyday life.  At the same time, it also shows the attempts at resistance and organised opposition in our town.

The memorial center is also a place of contemplation, of documentary evidence and of encounter with the events and people of the past and the present.  It is a place where young people, above all, are confronted by the crimes of National Socialism, and the essential issues relating to the preservation of human rights and democratic values.

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*** Hopefully next time Astrid comes to Israel there will more time to hear about this impressive exhibition and to also introduce her to MORESHET at Givat Haviva.

Should any reader want to know more about the Bonn museum Astrid can be contacted at:

Gedenkstaette-bonn@netcologne.de

 

September 2008

Lydia Aisenberg