Page 73 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

the bilateral relations with the East, especially brance and commemoration of flight and expul-
with Poland and the Czech Republic (Dakows- sion in the 20th century in the historical context
ka 2007). What was at stake as well in the do- of the Second World War and of the National
mestic debates and in the disputes with the east- Socialist expansion and extermination policies
ern neighbours was how to weight and to put in and their consequences.”
22
relation the commemoration of the victims of These fights over the politics of history im-
the German National Socialist terror regime to pacted the conception and the legal purpose of
23
the German victims of the Second World War the Foundation drafted by the federal govern-
24
(Salzborn 2003, 1124). The question was whether ment in 2008. It laid down a decidedly complex
the recognition and the place given to the Ger- and contradictory task, that is formulated unu-
man sufferings linked to the expulsions in Ger- sually precisely and directly. On the one hand,
25
man official commemorations would lead to a the remembrance policy dimension is very clear.
“completion or [to] a revision of history” (Ass- It is a matter of setting a “visible sign” in Ber- 73
mann 2007, 11; see also Hahn and Hahn (2008,
ti 39–40)). lin, in a time marked by the disappearance of
the generation of witnesses; in other words, of
Hoping to put an end to the polemics (Per-
ron 2015) and silence the more or less openly re- transforming a communicational memory into
a cultural memory – to use Jan and Aleida Ass-
ta the German government (the grand coalition mann’s terms – in order to meet the political de- a visible sign with a “quiet gesture”?
18
visionist stances of the Federation of Expellees,
mands of the associations of expellees to com-
CDU/CSU-SPD), under the auspices of the
memorate the sufferings endured in the newly
19
CDU/CSU, took over the project in 2008, in-
di itiating the creation by the Bundestag of a de- reclaimed capital and more so, in the core of the
commemoration landscape of unified Germa-
pendent Foundation placed under the control
ny. On the other hand, however, the Bundestag
of the Foundation Deutsches Historisches Muse-
22
See purpose of the Foundation in Section 2, paragraph
20
um. The purpose of this new institution, which
16 of the “Law on the establishment of a Foundation
was a hundred percent a creation of the German
‘Deutsches Historisches Museum’” (Beauftragter der Bun-
here federation and as such also funded to a hundred 23 See Dokumentationszentrum Flucht, Vertreibung, Ver-
desregierung für Kultur und Medien, 2008)
21
percent by the federation, was “ – in the spir-
söhnung (n.d.e).
it of reconciliation – to keep alive the remem-
24
Act on the Establishment of a Foundation “German His-
torical Museum” of 21 December 2008, Section 2 Inde-
As shown by the resentful comments in the Visitor’s Book
18
pendent Foundation “Foundation Flight Expulsion Rec-
of the exhibition Erzwungene Wege, that was opened in
onciliation”, § 16 Purpose of the Foundation “The purpose
August 2006 in the Berlin Kronprinzenpalais, organised
of the dependent foundation is – in the spirit of reconcilia-
by Steinbach’s Stiftung Zentrum gegen Vertreibungen
(Assmann 2007, 11).
of flight and expulsion in the 20th century in the historical
The intent to create a “visible sign” in Berlin was laid down
19
studiauniversitatis
context of the Second World War and of the National So-
in the Coalition contract in 2005. tion – to keep alive the remembrance and commemoration
cialist expansion and extermination policies and their con-
20 On December 21, the Bundestag adopted a law establish- sequences” (Bundesamt für Justiz n.d.b).
ing a Deutsches Historisches Museum Foundation, in 25 The Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation is to
which the creation of a dependent Stiftung Flucht Vertrei- my knowledge the sole German Museum to which poli-
bung Versöhnung, was mentioned in Paragraph 2. The sup- tics tells how to tell history as precisely. This scope of in-
porting organisation of the Documentation Centre is the tervention from politics in the realm of historiography is
Foundation for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation, the more astonishing for those who remember the con-
which was established by the German Bundestag in De- troversies that accompanied Chancellor Kohl’s initi-
cember 2008 as a non-party, dependent foundation under ative to build a House of the History of the FRG (Haus
public law. It is funded by the State Minister for Culture der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik) in Bonn in the middle
and the Media (Dokumentationszentrum Flucht, Vertrei- of the 1980s). At the time, the sole fact that it was a gov-
bung, Versöhnung n.d.a). ernmental initiative to build such historical museums was
21 As such it was taken out of the direct control of the Feder- contested (François 1992; Werner, 2016). In the case of the
ation of expellees. Very few cultural institutions are man- Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, and
dated and controlled by the Federation since culture lies in Reconciliation, the political interference goes much fur-
the exclusive domain of responsibility of the Länder. ther and determines the frame of the historical narration.