Gedächtnis und Gegenwart

In the organizer's words:

German culture of remembrance and the current Middle East conflict with Saba-Nur Cheema and Meron Mendel. Auschwitz has become a worldwide symbol for the murder of six million European Jews by the National Socialists. However, Auschwitz is also the central point of reference for the German culture of remembrance with its self-commitment to deal critically with all manifestations of anti-Semitism. The need for a "multidirectional remembrance" (Michael Rothberg), which also includes other histories of violence, has been discussed for some time. This debate is about the weighting of the memory of the Holocaust in relation to colonial crimes and other genocides, but also about the attitude towards Israel, Palestine and the conflict in the Middle East. This issue has come to a head since the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza. The evening with Meron Mendel and Saba-Nur Cheema is intended as an opportunity to interpret and analyze the associated controversies.