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

这一知识交流、传播以及制作展览和教学资源的方案借鉴了AHRC重大研究项目“从受害者到犯罪者--关于德国战时苦难的论述”(2005-2008年)的成果。在这个项目中，从二战结束到21世纪，受害者和罪行的叙述之间的复杂互动被建立起来：与大屠杀有关的比喻被发现在德国人关于他们作为盟军轰炸、大规模强奸和驱逐的受害者所遭受的描述中被用作工具，即使德国人参与犹太人苦难和犹太人苦难本身被边缘化。然而，我们也发现，自20世纪90年代中期以来，出现了更微妙的叙事。这些研究旨在包容地比较德国人和犹太人个人经历的复杂性和模糊性，同时考虑到这样的并列可能看起来如何与德国人的责任或犹太人的苦难相关联。在大屠杀记忆全球化的今天，这样的叙述提出了一些富有成效的问题，作为与远离集中营的不公正达成妥协的典范。具体地说，最近的德国小说、电影和纪念活动提出了与以下问题有关的问题：1)同情“普通”德国人的可能性；2)承认普通德国人的“绝对”受害者身份(例如，他或她被轰炸)与需要将这种痛苦置于德国人如何从种族国家的剥削和消灭中受益的背景下的平衡；以及(3)如何敏感地将对立的观点并列在一起，从而能够在不模糊历史责任的情况下产生包容性和对话。这些问题在后种族隔离的南非背景下引起了共鸣。与南非大屠杀和种族灭绝基金会(SAHGF)合作，我们的目标是调整我们的研究成果，以便有效地干预南非应对种族隔离遗留问题的努力，特别是为SAHGF与南非学校的教育拓展做出贡献。主要成果将是为开普敦、若堡和德班的SAHGF中心举办巡回展览，记录德国与过去达成协议的情况，并促使来访的学校团体(和公众)重新思考其SA背景，即我们如何在历史正义与和解之间取得平衡；如何在没有相对论的情况下讲述所有团体的经历？我们对德国的研究表明，在商定的范围内提出这些问题(即问责仍然至关重要)本身就可能为民主辩论打开一个艰难的过去。我们还将在南澳和英国举办公共活动。在开普敦，我们将在SAHGF为学生和公众组织讲习班，以纪念展览的启动，并促使更广泛地讨论其当代意义。英国驻南非高级专员公署和英国文化协会也将参与其中。在英国，我们将与贝丝·沙洛姆大屠杀中心(NOTTS)合作，将展览置于一个新的背景下；我们将与SAHGF和贝丝·沙洛姆的工作人员一起，在纪念2015年大屠杀纪念日和贝丝·沙洛姆20周年的活动中推出英国展览。此外，我们将与利兹市议会和利兹一家戏剧公司合作，在展览的基础上为年轻人举办一个为期三个月的戏剧工作坊。在三场演出和演出后的讨论中，我们将与SAHGF和Beth Shalom的工作人员一起接触城市居民，讨论“全球创伤”及其对当地的意义。最后，我们将与贝丝·沙洛姆合作创建教学资源，旨在加深学生对创伤过去和今天关于历史责任、种族主义和社会排斥的辩论的理解。这些材料可以从该项目的网站上下载，将使英国和全球不同学科的学生受益。我们还将为我们的合作机构的博士后和工作人员提供CPD机会。

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.