Minister Ina Brandes: Use every opportunity to bring young people into dialogue with contemporary witnesses.

“Our hearts are broken” in the face of the terrorist attacks by Hamas on 7 October 2023. “None of the civilians provoked what happened to you,” reads an open letter on display at the Holocaust Museum in Chicago. It continues: “Not all Palestinians belong to Hamas. And when we see Palestinian children covered in soot; their parents and grandparents in long lines at the border seeking shelter in Egypt; thousands who have already died and been injured, our hearts ache for these people too.” What is special about this letter is that it was written by Holocaust survivors.

On Sunday, 7 July, Minister of Culture and Science Ina Brandes visited the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center as part of a trip to the USA in the NRW-USA partner year and met representatives of the Jewish community in Chicago for an exchange.

Minister Brandes: “I am deeply impressed by this differentiated view of the terrorist attacks and their consequences. It speaks of a great love of humanity, which is all the more admirable as it is exemplified by people who themselves experienced the horror of the Holocaust. I would like to see this differentiated and deeply human perspective influence the debates at our universities even more.”

Just over a year ago, the Minister initiated a co-operation with the New York Museum of Jewish Heritage on behalf of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This gave school classes from North Rhine-Westphalia the opportunity to talk to Holocaust survivors and learn about the atrocities of the Nazi regime from the perspective of those personally affected. Talks have now begun in Chicago to collaborate with the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Centre.

Bernard Cheraksov, CEO of the Illinois Holocaust Museum: “We are honoured to welcome Minister Ina Brandes and her team to the museum to share our work in preserving the stories of survivors and the history of the Holocaust, including through our holographic theatre and virtual reality films. We look forward to future partnership opportunities with the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.”

Minister Ina Brandes: “The experience and impressions of a personal encounter with survivors of the Shoah are irreplaceable. I am very grateful that the Holocaust Museum in Chicago has shown a willingness to get Jews to share their personal history and the immense suffering that they experienced with schoolchildren from Germany. We should use every opportunity to bring younger people in particular into dialogue with contemporary witnesses. The horror of the Shoah must never be forgotten.”

In the cooperation project “Never Forget: Transnational Second Witness Educational Dialogues against Anti-Semitism” with the Second Witness Association and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, young people become second witnesses through encounters with contemporary witnesses. This means that the pupils themselves become active and pass on what they have heard and learned as second witnesses – depending on their talent, inclination and the occasion, in oral presentations, as graphic recordings, audio or video files, as theatre plays and discussion rounds. Young people from Germany and the USA will share their experiences with Holocaust survivors and meet digitally with all project participants for the finale on 25 September 2024 in the Old Synagogue in Essen.

The NRW-USA Year 2023/2024

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the United States of America have a history spanning some 340 years. With no other region outside of Europe does North Rhine-Westphalia maintain comparable relations in politics, business, science, culture and society as with the USA. The state government would like to honour this relationship in a special way and has declared 2023/2024 the NRW-USA Year under the motto “A Perfect Match”.

When 13 Mennonite families from Krefeld settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th century, this was the first German settlement in the New World. This is commemorated on German-American Day on 6 October. 340 years later, the USA and our country meet in deep friendship and on the basis of common interests. Today, the ties between North Rhine-Westphalia and the USA are more lively than ever: more than 1,700 US companies are active in North Rhine-Westphalia, and there are also 33 town twinning programmes. In addition, there are 98 school partnerships and 290 university partnerships – all of which ensure a lively exchange, especially between young people.