"That didn't happen here"
Exhibition and lecture on anti-Semitism in the GDR on 10 March at the TIETZ
"Das hat's bei uns nicht gegeben" is the title of a travelling exhibition by the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which can be seen from 10 March to 3 May 2016 as part of the 25th Days of Jewish Culture in Chemnitz at the City Library in the TIETZ, Moritzstraße 20. At the opening, on 10 March 2016 at 7 pm, historian Dr Harry Waibel will give a lecture on anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism in the GDR and the consequences to this day. Admission is free.
The exhibition:
The origin of right-wing extremism in the new federal states is often discussed. Politicians and academics usually look for explanations in social contexts. The fact that East Germany was also part of the National Socialist perpetrator country is often ignored. However, the state declared the population to be a nation of anti-fascists. As a rule, families and communities did not come to terms with the past. As a result, the dregs of anti-Semitism remained untouched. The myth that there was no anti-Semitism in the GDR persists to this day.
76 young people conducted research on this topic in eight East German cities. They asked questions and researched facts: Where is the Jewish cemetery located, and where did its gravestones remain after 1950? What was written about Israel in the regional newspaper? And how were the victims of National Socialism remembered in public? Their findings are presented in this exhibition.
The lecture:
In his lecture "Anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism in the GDR and the consequences to this day", historian Dr Harry Waibel shows that racism, neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism were part of public life in the GDR, but were consistently denied and kept secret by the SED government. These issues were denied and suppressed even after the end of the GDR and up to the present day. It is only since a mass right-wing movement against Muslims began to appear publicly on streets and squares in Dresden a year ago, and now in several other cities in the East, that questions have been asked about the origins of this movement.
Harry Waibel has been researching the course, causes and consequences of anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism in the GDR for over 20 years. Most of the results come from over 2,000 unpublished and top secret materials kept in the archives of the Ministry for State Security and the Federal Archive-SAPMO (SED and FDJ). According to this, a total of over 8,600 neo-Nazi, racist and anti-Semitic acts of propaganda and violence have been documented.
For further information please contact:
Uwe Hastreiter
Chemnitz City Library
Moritzstraße 20, 09111 Chemnitz
Telephone: 0371 488-4202
E-mail: hastreiter(at)stadtbibliothek-chemnitz.de