The German Experience of Coming-to-Terms with the Past: An Exhibition, Programme of Public Outreach and Teaching Materials in South Africa and the UK

This programme of knowledge exchange, dissemination, and the production of an exhibition and teaching resources draws on the findings of the AHRC major research project 'From Victims to Perpetrators? Discourses of German Wartime Suffering' (2005-2008). In that project, the complex interaction of narratives of victimhood and perpetration from the end of WWII into the 21st century was established: tropes associated with the Holocaust were found to have been instrumentalised within German accounts of what they had endured as the victims of Allied bombing, mass rapes, and expulsion, even as German complicity in Jewish suffering and Jewish suffering itself were marginalised. We also discovered, however, that more nuanced narratives have emerged since the mid-1990s. These aim for an inclusive juxtaposition of the complexities, and ambiguities, of the experiences of individual Germans and Jews while remaining mindful of how such a juxtaposition might appear to relativise German responsibility or Jewish suffering. Such narratives raise productive questions within today's globalisation of Holocaust memory as a model for coming-to-terms with injustices far removed from the concentration camps.

Specifically, recent German fiction, film and memorials raise questions relating to 1) the possibility of empathy with 'ordinary' Germans; 2) the balance between recognising the ordinary German's 'absolute' victimhood (e.g. that he or she was bombed) and the need to set this suffering in the context of how Germans benefited from the racial state's exploitation and elimination of others; and (3) how opposing perspectives might be sensitively juxtaposed and so be able to generate inclusivity and dialogue without a blurring of historical accountability.

These questions resonate in the post-apartheid South African context. Working with The SA Holocaust and Genocide Foundation (SAHGF), we aim to adapt our research findings to intervene productively in SA's efforts to confront the legacy of apartheid and, specifically, to contribute to the SAHGF's educational outreach with SA schools. The primary outcome will be a travelling exhibition for the SAHGF centres in Cape Town, Jo'burg and Durban documenting Germany's coming-to-terms with its past and prompting visiting school groups (and the public) to rethink their SA context, i.e. how can we square historical justice with reconciliation; how are the experiences of all groups to be narrated without relativisation? Our research on Germany suggests that posing these questions within agreed parameters (i.e. accountability remains vital) can in itself open up a difficult past to democratic debate.

We will also stage public events in both SA and the UK. In Cape Town, we will organise workshops at the SAHGF for pupils and the general public to mark the launch of the exhibition and to prompt wider discussion of its contemporary relevance. The UK High Commission in SA and the British Council will also be involved. In the UK, we will work with the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre (Notts) to set the exhibition into a new context; we will launch the UK exhibition, with SAHGF and Beth Shalom staff, at events to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2015 and Beth Shalom's 20th anniversary. In addition, we will collaborate with Leeds City Council and a Leeds theatre company on a three-month drama workshop for young people, based on the exhibition. At 3 performances and after-show discussions, we will engage city residents, with SAHGF and Beth Shalom staff, on 'global traumas' and their local significance.

Finally, we will work with Beth Shalom to create teaching resources designed to deepen pupils' grasp of traumatic pasts and today's debates on historical accountability, racism and social exclusion. These materials, downloadable from the project website, will benefit pupils across a range of disciplines, in the UK and globally. We will also offer CPD opportunities for a postdoc and staff at our partner institutions.

The permanent Holocaust exhibitions at the SAHGF's centres in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban have a footfall of 25 000 a year. In addition, the SAHGF's educational programmes reach 6000 pupils, 1500 adults, and 600 teachers across SA p.a. Of these, 80% are from groups disadvantaged under apartheid. In the UK, Beth Shalom has a footfall of 3500 p.a. from around the world, and its educational programme on extremism, divided communities and racism serves 17 000 pupils from primary to year 13. In 2013, the Holocaust Memorial Day events organised by Leeds City Council attracted around 1000 visitors, and the Theatre Co. Blah Blah Blah, supported by grants from Leeds City Council and the Arts Council, has been working with young people for over 25 years to develop participatory performances on a range of social and historical themes.

In SA, the exhibition will benefit pupils and the general public at the SAHGF centres in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. Currently, a SAHGF travelling exhibition on the Nazi persecution of homosexuals in the context of SA debates is attracting around 2000 visitors a month, and we expect to reach similar numbers each month over a period of half a year. Our exhibition will offer a resource within the National Curriculum for teachers to address with their pupils the significance of German coming-to-terms with the Nazi past for post-apartheid SA and, among the general public, it will contribute to the conversation begun by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In short, the exhibition will prompt reflection on the co-existence of different perspectives and provide a catalyst for opening up discussions across the divide about the painful past that so many South Africans still carry with them. A programme of events in Cape Town on the launch of the exhibition will create an additional formative educational experience for pupils and city residents, as well as impact-generating publicity and media opportunities.

In the UK, The Holocaust Centre Beth Shalom will gain from our knowledge exchange with the SAHGF. Adapting the travelling exhibition to the UK context will bring a novel comparative dimension to Beth Shalom's mission to embed discussion of social issues in the UK and abroad within Holocaust education, and the programme of events to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2015 and the Centre's twentieth anniversary will integrate the efforts of the PI and CIs and two educationalists from the SAHGF into its outreach work. In Leeds, young people will profit from our three-month drama workshop in their personal and career development (i.e. confidence, acting skills, etc.) and in their increased understanding of issues of historical accountability and political change. Leeds City Council will support this work in furtherance of its aim to enrich the city's cultural life and as an expression of its ambition to promote reflection on its diverse and divided communities. More broadly, we will work with the UoL Press Office to interest the SA and UK media in our UK-SA collaboration so that it might furnish challenging content for an even wider audience. Here, we also hope to add to current UK debates, e.g. discussion of the UK's colonial past, especially decolonisation, and present-day attitudes to immigration.

More generally, our teaching materials will benefit schools as a dissemination of current research on the German experience of coming-to-terms with the Nazi past and a contextualization of this past in relation to apartheid and present-day SA. A course pack based on the 12-16 panels of the exhibition will be a resource for teachers in the UK and, via the website, globally.

Finally, the SAHGF and Beth Shalom will develop relationships for future collaborations, with one another and with us, and their staff and the project postdoc will benefit from the CPD opportunities offered by international partnerships, exploitation of research, development of resources, and the sharing of best practice.