In both the planning and the implementation of our educational offers, we take the participants’ interests, prior knowledge, and learning abilities and requirements as our orientation. Depending on how much time we have at our disposal, we use a wide range of contents and methods to tailor our programmes to the participants’ needs as well as possible.
Participants play an active role in shaping their learning process
In terms of method, we aim for the greatest possible degree of interaction, discussion, learning by researching, and reflection. We encourage participants to develop critical questions on their own, to ask those questions, and to allow their interests to guide them in their research. One of our goals is for the participants to become aware of their existing conceptions especially with regard to the National Socialist period, to question those conceptions, and, where necessary, correct and supplement them, as well as to develop knowledge of history by means of independent research within the context of a discursive, guided learning process.
Learning from historical sources to understand how different aspects of the history are interrelated
Our points of departure in terms of content are the historical site, the traces and vestiges of the camp, and a wide variety of historical sources which we make accessible and legible. This includes information about the victims of persecution as well as memoirs by and interviews with them.
The knowledge the participants gain from sources and in dialogue with one another forms the basis for understanding how various aspects are interrelated: Who designated people as targets of discrimination, ostracism, and violence and why? What role did the widespread anti-Semitic, racist, and homophobic, as well as Social-Darwinist and classicist convictions of the time play in this process? What political, social, legal, economic, and cultural conditions and developments turned people at the heart of society into perpetrators or accomplices? How did the persons involved use their scope for action? Awareness of these aspects is essential for meaningful commemoration at a place like Buchenwald.
Encouraging reflection and reinforcing a critical awareness of history
Conveying knowledge by way of dialogue, arriving at insights through independent work, and encouraging reflection are means of forming or reinforcing a critical awareness of history. Reflecting on the past from the perspective of the present sensitizes participants to current threats to human rights, the rule of law, and democracy. It underscores the responsibility every member of society bears in the process of shaping the conditions of life in the society. Our educational work is designed to strengthen the participants’ powers of historical/political/ethical judgement.
Ensuring voluntariness to the greatest possible extent
We commit to the Beutelsbach Consensus: We apply the principle of voluntariness to the greatest possible extent in our educational programmes. We ensure that the participants can learn in an open atmosphere free of the pressure to perform and the pressure of being judged.
