Foto mit Lehramtsstudenten, die die Methode „Gegenstandsgeschichten“ ausprobieren. Foto: KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme, 2014.
Teacher trainees try working with objects. Photograph: Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, 2014. (ANg 2014-532)

Further Education Courses and Seminars

The Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial regularly offers further education courses and seminars for teachers, study seminars and multipliers from all areas of society. Openly advertised seminars and further education courses are aimed at individuals with an interest in the subject matter. These offers provide the opportunity to reflect on relevant questions pertaining to past and present, with a diverse group of people. Some of these events are organised in co-operation with university and non-university institutions, especially with institutions for teacher training and further education as well as historical-political education. Information on current further education courses and seminars can be found under the rubric What’s On. Seminars and exchanges aimed specifically at descendants of victims of Nazi persecution and Nazi perpetrators can be found under the Encounters projects.

You also have the option of booking your own further education courses as a specialist body, student seminar or interested group. The duration of the further education courses depends on how in-depth the subject matter is and the chosen topic (from one-day projects to events lasting several days). Further education courses are available on the following topics, among others:

Getting to Know the Memorial and the formats available for booking

This further education course takes a closer look at the Memorial as well as the bookable educational formats on offer from the Memorial. Suitable for study seminars, groups of teachers and professional associations.
 

Teaching the Holocaust and Shoah

Topics such as the Holocaust and Nazi crimes often evoke strong emotions among educators. By contrast, school pupils often regard National Socialism as history now long past. How do we address this contradiction while rekindling interest? How do we use age-appropriate media in the classroom, and what opportunities do extracurricular learning centres have to offer?

Racism against Sinti and Roma

We analyse current forms of remembrance to explore the stereotypes used to describe “the Roma”. We reflect on how how to talk about the history of persecution of Sinti and Roma in a way that also raises awareness about racist structures (and ways of thinking). Personal stories of persecution are explored at the Memorial, and we look at patterns of how this persecution has continued since 1945. This seminar is recommended for formal and informal educators in secondary and higher education and is also open to interested individuals.

Beiträge zur Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus Heft 14 Sinti und Roma

Racism and the Everyday Lives of Black People, Past and Present

This seminar will focus on the situation of black people in Germany while looking at racism and persecution in the Third Reich as well as imprisonment in concentration camps. Participants study the biographies of black people who experienced the Nazi regime in Europe first-hand. We will also concentrate on the everyday lives of people of colour today, how blacks are portrayed in the media, and recent examples of racism.

Photographs and Drawings

In the further education course “Art as a Means of Expression and Survival” we focus on artworks created by victims of Nazi persecution and those forced to live in exile during the Nazi period. While our main focus is on the artistic works in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, we broaden our view by visiting monuments, artworks and other memorials in the city of Hamburg.

In the further education course “Photographs and Film as Information Media” we will discuss how the Nazi period is portrayed in photographs, the Internet and movies for television and cinema. In this workshop we will explore how historical events are conveyed in the media of photography and film and learn how to create our own visual interpretations.

The Holocaust in film

This further education course looks at the way concentration camps and ghettos are portrayed in feature films and documentaries. We also consider which films are suitable as classroom preparation for a visit to a memorial site. Other issues raised include discussing the depiction of persecutees and perpetrators in films and whether it is possible to adopt a comedic approach to the Shoah. Participants are able to reflect on viewing habits through various examples of films and find out more about production backgrounds and how imagery, legends and myths are created.

Auschwitz in comic form?

Children’s and youth literature is very well suited to conveying the complexity of the National Socialist era to young people and encouraging them to reflect on it. This further education course presents new publications and discusses ways of applying them to a classroom setting; they include novels, graphic novels and comics about the Sinti and Roma, Jewish persecutees, and other groups of victims of Nazi persecution.

The Presence of the Past

In cooperation with the State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development in Hamburg (LI) and the University of Hamburg, we regularly offer a teachers’ training course called “The Presence of the Past. Project Learning and the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial”.  This course focuses on innovative concepts of teaching and self-learning.  Teachers in Hamburg can receive credit at the Department of Society of the LI for courses offered by the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial.

Is There a Perpetrator, Follower, Bystander, or Victim in Your Family?

This one-day seminar offered twice a year provides participants with ideas on how to approach their family history and how to find out more about their family background. How can we research Nazi perpetrators, bystanders, followers or victims of Nazi persecution and sites where crimes were committed in archives, on the Internet, in databases and online catalogues? Participants learn how to use the Archive, Library and exhibitions of the Memorial.

Neuengammer Studienhefte 01 (Shop)

Is There a Perpetrator in Your Family?

This two-day conversational seminar enables participants to engage more intensively with perpetrators in their own family. Descendants of Nazi perpetrators talk about their strategies for coping with their ethical and family history after 1945, their feelings of loyalty or disloyalty towards their parents or grandparents, the effects of researching family history on their families, and how their family history affects their own lives.

Effects of Nazi Persecution across Generations

This seminar addresses how persecution, flight and camp imprisonment affects the second- and third-generation descendants of victims of persecution. It is also recommended for family and friends of descendants, or anyone who is interested. We explore how transports, deportations and concentration camps are remembered in families and in the public and how this evolves over time with new generations and changes in society. The relationship between private memory and the public culture of remembrance is also discussed.

Überlebende und ihre Kinder im Gespräch (Neuengammer Studienhefte 03) (Shop)