#StolenMemory: Opening of the German-Polish traveling exhibition in Jena
On October 6, the Arolsen Archives in Jena will open the new international #StolenMemory exhibition container together with the U.S. Consul General from Leipzig and the Lord Mayor of the City of Jena. The focus of the traveling exhibition, which will travel through Germany and Poland, is on the last possessions of concentration camp prisoners and the question of how these so-called effects can still be returned to the victims' families today.
The exhibition in a mobile overseas container can be seen at Johannistor in Jena until October 27.
"Effects" are personal items that were taken from prisoners by the National Socialists upon their arrival in concentration camps. They were often wedding rings, watches, fountain pens or wallets with photos. #StolenMemory is a campaign by the Arolsen Archives to return these personal items to their relatives. Almost 550 families have already been found since the campaign was launched in 2016. The exhibition shows pictures of these last possessions and tells the story of the fate of ten victims of Nazi persecution.
The aim of the exhibition: to raise awareness and support
Under the heading "Found", the exhibition focuses on personal items that have already been returned. It reports on the persecution of the former owners and what these things from the past mean to the families today. The relatives themselves have their say: using a smartphone, visitors can call up video portraits via an app and listen to these very personal stories.
Under the heading "Wanted", effects are shown that are still waiting to be returned. An important message is therefore that anyone can support the Arolsen Archives in returning the effects and search for traces of those persecuted and their families themselves. After all, the archive still holds stolen memorabilia from almost 2,500 people from all over Europe.
The emotional value of the effects
"Families often know little or nothing about the fate of their grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts," says Floriane Azoulay, Director of the Arolsen Archives. The return of the effects is therefore often very unexpected for the relatives: "As around 800 of the effects come from Polish victims of persecution, we want to use the German-Polish container to expand our work in Poland, invite even more volunteers to carry out local research and return the memorabilia to the families."
The German-Polish traveling exhibition
A generous donation from the U.S. diplomatic missions in Germany and Poland made it possible to build the German-Polish exhibition container, which will be presented to the public for the first time on German-American Day in Jena. After stops in Weimar and Görlitz, the container will travel through Poland next year. The U.S. support of #StolenMemory is part of the American promotion of international Holocaust remembrance culture announced by U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in Berlin in June 2021.
Opening in Jena
"We are very happy to have found such an open-minded and interested host for the first exhibition station in the city of Jena," explains Floriane Azoulay. Together with Lord Mayor Dr. Thomas Nitzsche and the Consul General of the U.S. Consulate General in Leipzig Ken Toko, she will open the exhibition at Johannistor (Am Pulverturm) on Wednesday, October 6 at 3 pm. This will be followed by the panel discussion "Combating Antisemitsm" at 4 pm at the University of Jena. The Arolsen Archives are supported by KoKont Jena in organizing the exhibition.
Exhibition and website
Accompanying the exhibition, the website stolenmemory.org offers interesting insights: short, animated films with supplementary web stories tell of individual stories of fate. These materials were specially developed for young people and won the Grimme Online Award in the "Knowledge and Education" category in June 2021. Extensive educational material is also available for free download on the website, which can be used by schools and educational institutions at all stations of the traveling exhibition.