ERINNERN FUR DIE ZUKUNFT TRAGERVEREIN DES HAUSES DER WANNSEEKONFERENZEV

The memorial and educational site House of the Wannsee Conference was inaugurated on the 20th of January in 1992, on the 50th anniversary of the meeting that later came to be known as Wannsee Conference. The new permanent exhibition “The Meeting at Wannsee and the Murder of the European Jews” was opened in January 2020 and is located in the rooms on the ground floor of the villa. It presents the history of exclusion, definition and classification that culminated in the systematic deportations and genocide – through the prism of the meeting at Wannsee. It aims at explaining what antisemitism is, how it developed before the genocide and to what degree it still exists today. It describes the experiences of Jews from different European countries. It shows the criminal prosecution of the participants after 1945 and how society reflected on the actions taken during the Nazi era. The house and its garden is open for interested people and study groups from all over the world. In addition to its exhibition, the Memorial and Educational Site offers a wide range of educational programs to learn about the history of the persecution and murder of the European Jews, the history of National Socialism, its prehistory and its consequences. The educational programs include guided tours, daily or weekly seminars, as well as online workshops. These are addressed to pupils (from 14 years up), students and other young people, but also adults. Generally seminars for adults are vocationally oriented. Their central theme is how the respective occupational groups, to which the seminar participants belong, acted during the time of National Socialism. Proceeding from there, the discussion concentrates on the significance the history of National Socialist crimes has in our own times. In the case of teachers and trainee teachers, the educational program of the house is discussed, as well as the possibilities and problems associated with the question of how to deal with National Socialism during lessons in school. When it comes to school pupils, the educational work in the House of the Wannsee Conference does not aim to substitute the History lessons taught in school. Instead, the opportunities offered by this historical site should be used to gain deeper insights into significant aspects of the genocide of the Jews, and to deal with one’s own emotional reactions caused by confrontation with these events. The house defines itself as a place of learning that facilitates in-depth study on a range of particular topics. Its Multi Media Centre consists of a reference library, a collection of documents on microfilm and/or microfiche, and audio - visual media. With the aid of the exhibits and the various sources and media available, the absence of institutional constraints such as curricular guidelines and rigid time schedules allows for methods of teaching and learning that motivate participants to try, actively and self-critically, to gain insights into the history of National Socialist crimes and their effects on the present.