6 October 2022

Nordhausen (HSPN): The redesigned exhibition on Jewish sepulchral culture and Jewish life in the 19th century as well as the Thuringian film premiere of the German version of the documentary film "Colette" set new accents at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences.

Exhibition curator and supporter of the Oscar film "Colette" Dr Marie-Luis Zahradnik and Chief Superintendent of Police Jens Bönisch

At the beginning of 2021, Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences was able to break new ground between history and digitisation with the project "Digitisation of Jewish cemeteries in the Nordhausen district", led by Dr Marie-Luis Zahradnik, and contribute to the preservation and development of historical sources on stone. The project has become a model for the digitisation of Jewish cemeteries in rural areas in Thuringia. The topic was promoted publicly through lectures and an online presentation at www.kulthura.de and epidat of the Steinheim Institute in Essen in order to further raise awareness of the Jewish culture of remembrance and commemoration in the local area. The exhibition on Jewish sepulchral culture and Jewish life in the 19th century was made accessible to the public in the exhibition in the municipal museum and subsequently in May/June 2022 in the property of the Nordhausen State Police Inspectorate. It was also used for training programmes for police officers. The exhibition can now be viewed in a remodelled form in the foyer of the upper floor of House 19 at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences.

The exhibition on display was organised by the "Against Forgetting - For Democracy" e. V. as part of the "Demokratie Leben!" programme and financed by private individuals. For the redesign, materials and production methods that are environmentally friendly were used in part, which corresponds to a newly emerging trend in exhibition curation. In addition to mobile roll-ups around the cemeteries, there will also be life-size display stands with biographies of buried people, historical photographic material and ceiling hangers with photographs and inscriptions from the gravestones. The exhibition can also be set up at other locations and used there for educational and professional programmes.

Commemoration and remembrance have many forms of expression. Thus, the exhibition is followed by a filmic form of remembering and keeping alive an individual example of the 20th century. In film scenes in particular, it becomes clear that there is no right or wrong way to remember, but that the moment allows remembrance to emerge, become comprehensible and endure. The American director Anthony Giacchino took on this authentic image and was honoured for it in 2021 for his Documentary film "Colette" in the "Best Documentary (Short Film)" category. The film is presented in French with German subtitles. This is a significant moment, as the emotions of both protagonists cannot be synchronised. This and the visual scenes are what make the film so successful. The documentary had its cinematic beginnings in the town of Nordhausen and the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, among other places. In addition, the location of the film screening is in the immediate vicinity of the place where Colette's brother and prisoner died in Boelke barracks on 22 March 1945. The film premiere of the German version will therefore take place in Nordhausen on 9 October 2022 at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences with a supporting programme.

The director and producer Anthony Giacchino, the protagonist Lucie Fouble and some team members will lay a memorial flower arrangement at the Dora concentration camp and visit the memorial plaque for Colette's brother Jean Pierre, which was presented in April 2022. The film and our present are once again linked by the human longing for peace. Probably no other song symbolises the desire for peace and hope like Erika Schirmer's "Little White Dove of Peace". By performing the song in harmony with the film, the city is setting an example for peace.

For Nordhausen, this is probably a unique event that will hopefully go down in the history of the town and be remembered.