You are here: 2000 / Workshops, Panels and Seminars / Workshops on Remembrance and Representation / Workshop 1 on Remembrance, "It Happened There: The Existence and Meaning of Historical Locations" / Presentation by Dr. Robert Sigel
	Participants Countries and organizations Conference documentation Conference programme				Report from Workshop 1 on Remembrance and Representation: "It Happened there: the Existence and Meaning of Historical Locations" Presentation by Mr. David Barnouw Presentation by Dr. Jan Munk Presentation by Dr. Robert Sigel Presentation by Dr. Teresa Swiebocka Presentation by Dr. Jonathan Webber Presentation by Dr. James E. Young Presentation by Dr. Robert Sigel Sigel, Robert Presentation by Dr. Robert Sigel Looking at the functions historical locations, especially memorial sites of the Nationalsocialist era, are assigned, we will see a multitude of tasks and objectives: place of remembrance, place of grief, place of commemoration, place of conversation, place of learning, place of warning, place of identification. Many of these tasks, however, can also be carried out in schools, museums, at monuments and memorials. The special significance of historical sites though is their authenticity. What does authenticity mean? The authentic location is the tangible proof that something has taken place. It is the place where history can be grasped. There traces of what happened can be found: the camp prison with its cells, the crematoria, the gallows, the roll call place. The visitor is moved by these traces, by the aura of the location.. This emotion, the empathy is the indispensable precondition of all aims, which historical education, especially Holocaust education pursues: Only he who is capable of empathy can understand. In view of the victims’ fate , their suffering, their lives, their deaths, their survival the visitor realizes what human beings are capable of. He is led to the extreme situations of human existence. The historical locations of the NS-era are the places to commemorate the victims. But the historical locations urge us to focus on the perpetrators as well. Authenticity, however, is not something the authentic place reveals to a visitor. Authenticity is something that develops between the place and the visitor. If you take for example the roll call place of the Dachau concentration camp memorial site - a big, large square, covered with pebbles. This square reveals its history, the human tragedies that took place there, only to those people who already know. Ignorance inevitably leads to disappointment or fallacy. Real authenticity only develops for people with a certain historical knowledge; a knowledge of what happened, how it happened, and why it happened. Teaching this knowledge is an essential part of the preparation. Such a preparation can however only be expected from a small part of the visitors. Consider the approximately 800,000 visitors at the Dachau concentration camp memorial site: German school classes, foreign students, international youth groups, tourists, members of the armed forces, single visitors - the preparation, preknowledge,the time they spent at the site, the circumstances in which the visit takes place vary to a great extent. The transfer of the necessary knowledge will therefore always be an important part of every historical site. Pedagogical departments with a wide range of guided tours, seminars, and discussions as well as possibilities of getting additional and profound information are imperative. Ideally the pre-visit and post-visit activities have an effect far beyond the visit itself. Thus the historical location becomes a place whose authenticity determines the collective memory of a society. This will be especially important in the future when the witnesses of what happened have left us. >> Back to top				Introduction Opening Session: Messages and speeches Plenary Sessions: Messages and speeches Workshops, Panels and Seminars Summary Report on Panels and Workshops Panel 1: Holocaust Education - Where Are We Going? Panel 2: Remembering the Holocaust - The challenges of Memory Panel 3: Holocaust Research - From the Archives to the Classroom Workshops on Education Workshops on Remembrance and Representation Workshops on Research Closing Session and Declaration Other Activities
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