Preserving the Memory in Ukraine! Mapping, remembering and teaching the Holocaust after February 24, 2022
Russia‘s war against Ukraine puts the issue of commemorating the Holocaust on hold, while its cultural monuments are being destroyed and the plans for building new memorials at the site of the mass murders of Jews have to be postponed. In this situation, it is the mission of historians to preserve and to renew memory.
The project is two-fold. In a first step, it aims at the digital preservation of the existing sites of memory of the Second World War to make them visible to a wider international audience. This part of the project will provide an exemplary mapping of the sites in Kharkiv, including information on the current condition of the monuments, their damage and reconstruction works. The documentation will be supplemented with testimonies and quotes, which convey the personal experience of survivors and eyewitnesses of the Holocaust.
In a second step, the project will provide a better understanding of the changes in the policy of memory in the educational systems of Ukraine and Germany. This part of the project follows the modifications of teaching the history of the Second World War and the Holocaust after February 24, 2022, with the aim to contribute to the development of future perspectives for research and education on the Holocaust and its perception.