Monday, December 2, 2024

Association Supporting the Freiburg Documentation Center on National Socialism


The Förderverein Dokumentationszentrum Nationalsozialismus Freiburg held its annual meeting on November 18. Red Baron has previously reported on the Center.

The flyer
Having been a member of this supporting association for nine months, this was the first time I could meet fellow supporters of the Center in person. Indeed, the annual meeting was well attended.

The new logo
The association board gave its annual report and showed photos of the progress of the construction work at the former tourist office that will become the NS Documentation Center, which is due to open in March 2025.

Last year, donations to the Center amounted to almost 35,000 euros, and membership rose from 39 to 147.
The resurrection of the Old Synagogue, which was burnt down
on Reichskristallnacht on November 9, 1938, in its present surroundings.
The Center will employ the latest technologies to make the past present.


During the slide show, Red Baron suddenly appeared in a photo, listening attentively to Prof. Bernd Martin, who gave a guided tour to members of the Förderverein Dokumentationszentrum Nationalsozialismus Freiburg in 2022 about the Nazi history of the Albert Ludwig University.


Here he talks about the Nazi eagle that used to hang on the façade of the Kollegiengebäude 1 above the university seal. It was removed after the war, but you can still see the traces all too clearly in the photo.

Prof. Martin, an expert on Martin Heidegger, naturally focused on the philosopher who joined the Nazi Party as early as 1933, became chancellor of the university, and worked to subordinate it to the Führerprinzip (leader principle). Here, he was supported by a right-wing student body where National Socialist ideas were most strongly within the medical faculty.

The renovation work at the former tourist office is on schedule. Red Baron is eagerly awaiting the opening of the Documentation Center.
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