On 2 October, BADEHAUS Place of Remembrance hosted a “Long Night of Democracy” for the first time, in collaboration with the Museum of the City of Geretsried, the Wolfratshausen Museum, the Wolfratshausen Adult Education Centre and the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen District Youth Council.
A historic shuttle bus connected the three museums, enabling visitors to travel between the different venues. A rally across all three museums offered a fun and interactive way to discover the various activities on offer.
School students also took a stand for democracy and a culture of remembrance that evening. Young people from Gabriel-von-Seidl-Gymnasium in Bad Tölz walked along the route of the Dachau death march to BADEHAUS Place of Remembrance. There, they met students from the history project seminar (P-Seminar) at Gymnasium Kempfenhausen. This group had also been following the traces of the death march and had stopped at the memorials in Aufkirchen, Dorfen and Wolfratshausen on their way to the museum. Along the way, they explored the question of how the history of National Socialism can be made accessible to young people.
In addition, we were delighted to welcome around 200 visitors to BADEHAUS alone. An engaging and varied programme awaited guests across all three floors.
At the research station accompanying the special exhibition KRIEGSKINDER (CHILDREN OF WAR), young BADEHAUS team member Liesa Lahne helped visitors explore their own family histories using DIE ZEIT’s online research tool. They were able to investigate whether relatives from their parents’ or grandparents’ generation had been members of the NSDAP, SA or SS. The station attracted considerable interest throughout the evening.
Next door, the Adult Education Centre invited visitors to take part in a quiz on politics and democracy.
On the ground floor, our research associate Rhiannon Moutafis led a guided tour of the permanent exhibition, illustrating how political and social structures developed in Föhrenwald and Waldram. Later, headteacher Clemens Coenen and teacher Stephanie Coenen led further themed tours.
On the upper floor, our Forest of Remembrance became a space for lively discussions about political slogans and populist talking points. Students from Gymnasium Geretsried demonstrated how to respond to racist, discriminatory and populist statements in a calm, factual and firm manner.
The partner museums also offered a wide range of ways to engage with the topic of democracy. The Museum of the City of Geretsried presented its new special exhibition “Creating Peace” and explored the history of National Socialism in Geretsried during a guided tour. At the Wolfratshausen Museum, the focus was on a hands-on approach: visitors could explore democracy in an unusual way through an escape room and engage in direct conversations with members of the city council.
