16 December 2025

Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences and the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial signed a cooperation agreement on 10 December. The aim of the agreement is to strengthen cooperation in research, studies, teaching and further education in the long term.

The agreement was signed by Prof Dr Jörg Wagner, President of Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences, and Andreas Froese, Director of the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial and representative of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation. Also present were Prof Dr Cordula Borbe, the university's anti-Semitism officer, professor and Vice President for Studies and Teaching, and Anne Otto, research volunteer at the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial, where she is also responsible for press and public relations.

„With this cooperation, we are not only deepening our academic collaboration, but also taking responsibility for a living culture of remembrance,“ emphasised University President Wagner. The Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp memorial is a central place of learning and remembrance for the history of National Socialist forced labour and the division of labour in armaments production during the Second World War.

The agreement creates a binding framework for joint activities:

• Organisation of joint teaching and further education programmes,
• Preparation and realisation of joint research projects,
• Co-operation at public events and
• Mutual utilisation of premises and infrastructural resources.

Prof. Dr Cordula Borbe emphasised the importance of the new cooperation: „Especially in times of growing social tensions and increasing anti-Semitism, it is essential to sensitise young people to historical responsibility, democratic values and critical thinking. This collaboration opens up great potential for teaching, research and social engagement.“

Andreas Froese emphasised the current scope and opportunities of this new agreement: „Especially in times of political and social legal pressure, which is attacking academic freedom and history-conscious educational work, closer cooperation between the university and the memorial site also strengthens our democratic civil society. Both contractual partners are aware of their social significance both in an international context and for the city of Nordhausen and the region.“

With the new cooperation agreement, both institutions are sending out a strong signal of their shared responsibility for the further development of historical-political education and science communication - regionally, nationally and internationally.