In the years to come, there will be hardly any Holocaust survivors or other victims of the NS regime left who are able to share their experiences. How can we preserve the evidence at the crime sites and safeguard authentic testimony in the digital age? Focusing on key questions surrounding memory culture, this exhibition seeks to support the work of memorial sites, which remain to be places of mourning to this day.

What is the current state of memory culture in Germany with regard to the crimes of the NS regime, and what challenges lie ahead? The exhibition at the Bundeskunsthalle explores the changing ways in which the crimes of the NS regime are remembered through artistic reflection as well as through historical testimony and objects. It also examines how we must continue to work tirelessly to preserve history and ensure that the crimes committed under the NS regime are not forgotten, in order to protect our democracy.

How do we keep the memory alive?

There are many methods to keep history alive: 1. Knowlegde: the need to communicate the facts of what happened, 2. Crime sites: the importance of preserving the crime sites and carrying out ongoing forensic research at memorial sites, 3. Memorials: the role of memorials in strengthening marginalized groups of victims, 4. Remembrance: the memories of individuals and families passed down through the generations since 1933 and the shared responsibility of preserving a cultural memory, 5. Future: the pressing questions surrounding digital methods of remembrance and the future of memory culture. Each of these chapters also addresses current efforts to suppress remembering the crimes of the Nazi regime.

Leading experts including Aleida Assmann, Meron Mendel, Susanne Siegert, Eva Umlauf and Jens-Christian Wagner have contributed to both the exhibition and the accompanying publication.

Artists: Christian Boltanski, Peggy Buth, Maria Eichhorn, Harun Farocki, Sam Goodman, Ayala Shoshana Guy, Hans Haacke, Käthe Kollwitz, Bracha Lichtenberg-Ettinger, Boris Lurie, Antje Majewski, Andreas Maus, Gustav Metzger, Zoran Music, Henrike Naumann, Marcel Odenbach, Raffael Rheinsberg, Gerhard Richter, Natalia Romik, Gregor Schneider, Jósef Szajna, Luc Tuymans, Alfred Ullrich, Wolf Vostell, Barbara Yelin.