English
Letter to the editor:
Landsberger Tagblatt
Virtual commemoration of the end of the Holocaust, 28.4.2021
Link zum Online-Artikel:
Paradigm shift digital
The step of the city of Landsberg into the digital world for modern contemporary history took place on 27.4. On the one hand with the virtual commemoration and by presenting the new website “landsberg-kaufering-erinnern.de”. This is also connected with the emancipation of museums as constructed places for the communication of history.
The planned section on National Socialism in the town museum will also be virtual and digital. It can also only be a reflection of places and events, like the website. The City Museum is not a site of National Socialist events, like the memorial sites of Camp VII, the bunkers in the Guelph Barracks, and the buildings in Frauenwald.
There are many topics that need to be presented in a protected place like a city museum. Artifacts from early history work of art or the unique Mittermayer tile collection. If it is expected that around 8 to 10 million will have to be spent on renovation and exhibitions, then one has to ask about proportionality. The costs of the new website, at around 90,000 €, show how far one can get digitally.
On the other hand, there are the places of remembrance as places of truth. These are in urgent need of equipment because there one can internalize the encounter with the inconceivable and experience it in a self-determined way. No media technology and visualization can replace this, which according to the design for the City Museum can be understood as “staged consternation”. Why should anyone go to a decentrally located building for this? VR and augmented reality offer new possibilities for exploration in this regard.
Some city councilors have noticed this paradigm shift in museum culture. The city will have no choice but to weigh things up even more carefully when it comes to deciding on the millions to be spent on the New City Museum. With the new website, a municipal platform has been installed for the presentation of modern contemporary history, and thus there is no particular urgency or need for boards and videos in the City Museum.
Now one can concentrate on the authentic places, protecting them from decay and making them accessible to all. This has been stated for five years in the “Feasibility Study for a Documentation Site for the Former Landsberg/Kaufering External Concentration Camp Complex”. The city museum is only mentioned as a place for temporary exhibitions on these topics. These qualified recommendations should be followed with confidence.
Wolfgang Hauck
Landsberg am Lech, 29.4.2021
info@wolfgangHauck.de
LINKS AND REFERENCES IN GERMAN
- 2016 Machbarkeitsstudie für einen Dokumentationsort zum ehemaligen KZ-Außenlagerkomplex Landsberg/Kaufering: PDF-Dokument
- Artikel zu Machbarkeitsstudie, Landsberger Tagblatt: Die KZ-Gedenkorte rund um Landsberg sind noch in der Warteschleife, 6. Oktober 2019: Link
- Webseite “landsberg-kaufering-erinnern.de” Link
- Landsberger Tagblatt: Virtuelles Gedenken an das Ende des Holocaust, 28.4.2021: Link zum Online-Artikel
- Leserbrief Wolfgang Hauck, Landsberger Tagblatt, 8. Mai 2021, gekürzte Version der Veröffentlichung: PDF-Dokument Leserbrief