Human rights and democracy education in the Munich Documentation Centre for the history of national socialism and the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site: pedagogical approaches of understanding and learning from the Holocaust
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Date
2019
Authors
Hein, Esther
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Abstract
This project seeks to examine what museal techniques are implemented in memorial sites and documentation centres in contemporary Germany in order to convey historical knowledge about the era of the National Socialism and the Holocaust. A comparative examination of two Bavarian institutions and their exhibitions is conducted: the permanent exhibition of the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism (NS Dokumentationszentrum München, 2015) and the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site (KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau, since 1965). The thesis analyzes how historical-political knowledge can be used to enhance human rights and democracy education today so that historical events remain relevant in the present and future. Based on the theoretical concepts of “empathy” and “distance” as well as “authenticity” and “aura”, this study examines the potential learning opportunities and processes of prototypical German high school students within these museal representations.
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Holocaust Education, Museum Research, Human Rights Education, Germany, Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism, Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, German highschool students, empathy, historical distance, aura, authenticity, German cultural memory