Remembrance and Generation Z: The Cooperation between the University of Regensburg and the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial and Museum

Holocaust remembrance and education on Nazi Germany has been a vital part of school and university curricula in Germany as well as in the United States. For the post-war generations site visits and testimonies of survivors were key to transmit personal stories instead of textbook history to create personal connections and memorable experiences. The new generation of students however, Generation Z, born roughly between 1997 and 2012, will most likely not have the privilege of meeting survivors and hearing stories firsthand.

This creates new and different challenges. How do we create meaningful connections that go beyond a site tour, a video recording or a lecture? How do we connect the past with the students' lives, families and communities? Furthermore, in Germany, there are now several generations of young people with migration backgrounds who lack any family connection with this chapter of German history.

The interdisciplinary and international event will feature, live from Flossenbürg,

• a talk by Prof. Dr. Udo Hebel, President UR, and Prof. Dr. Jörg Skriebeleit, Director of the Memorial;
• a panel discussion with Dennis Forster (Project ReMember, Memorial), Johannes Lauer (Education Dpt., Memorial), Dr. Andrea Zittlau (Scholar and Artist, U Rostock), Dr. Birgit Hebel-Bauridl (Leibniz ScienceCampus Regensburg).
• In a video screening, Regensburg MA and PhD candidates Rye Bittl, Katya Davis, Carina Ehrnsperger, and Tamara Heger will discuss their experiences with and projects on Flossenbürg and memory.

The event is chaired by ASU’s Dr. Christiane Reves and Dr. Volker Benkert. It is part of ASU’s interdisciplinary Campus Weeks and sponsored by the German Embassy in the US.

The full program can be found here. The Zoom Link is: https://uni-regensburg.zoom.us/j/65118410538