Page 81 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

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mid-1950’s. It was thus important to distance longer on the collection, as the status of the lat-
the new institution from this kind of discourse ter shows. In fact, the legislator has not given the
and from a museography (that of Heimatstuben Foundation a collection mandate that goes be-
and other museum institutions of the expellees) yond the creation of an exhibition, and there is
that was based since the 1950s on the attempt of significantly no planned funding to take care
reconstructing the lost homeland, offering ideal- of such a collection. Like many of the §96 Re-
ised and biased visions of the latter, free of crisis gional Museums that were founded as the result
or conflicts (Eisler 2011; Beer, Fendl, and Hampe of a political decision, the objects of the perma-
nent exhibition do not originate from a pre-ex-
2012, 7–15; Reinsch et al. 2023, 233). It was also a isting collection (as most national museums or
way to prevent any competition with the §96 Re- local history museums exhibitions do). Howev-
gional Museums dedicated to the lost German er, neither were they acquired on the art market,
Reichs- and settlement areas, even though the or taken from the holdings of other museums
existence of the latter was never mentioned in of- (such as those of the Germanisches National- 81
ti ficial discourses about the necessity to commem- museum), nor are they on loan from the feder-
orate “flight and expulsion”. Some of them had
al government, as is the case in the §96 Regional
expressed the concern that their funding might Museums. The exhibits mostly come from pri-
ta sion, Reconciliation was added to the list of the appeals for donations from expellees or their de- a visible sign with a “quiet gesture”?
vate sources and were collected through public
be reduced after the Foundation Flight, Expul-
scendants over the past ten years (Möck 2021).
§96 BVFG funded institutions.
As in museums dedicated to migrations,
di The Collection: Objects as Carriers but also to the (Nazi) memorials, the collec-
tion is characterised by the fact that most of
of Histories and of Negativity
the objects displayed are everyday things: arte-
To analyse further the approach to loss of the
Documentation Centre, it is necessary to look facts, photos, documents, posters, etc. Their val-
ue is not the one of masterpieces in the artistic
here at the exhibition practice. In the first place it ity to bear witness as a legacy, to tell a story, to
both at the collection and at the way the ob-
or historical sense, but it derives from their abil-
jects that comprise it are dealt with, as well as
be seen as fleeting traces, as a testimony to and
is important to recall that the Documentation
a symptom of exile (Alexandre-Garner and Gal-
Centre, with its library, its testimony archive
itzine-Loumpet 2020). These objects are both
and its room of stillness understands itself as
46
realia (remains) and relics. Despite their appar-
something more than a museum in the classi-
be able to say something about the “experiential
cal sense of the word, “a unique place of learning
studiauniversitatis
dimension” (Wagner 2022, 11) of forced migra-
and remembrance” as announced on the website ent banality, their task is to provide proof and to
(Dokumentationszentrum Flucht, Vertreibung, tions and its violence to the visitor.
Versöhnung n.d.c). The main focus of the Doc- Accounts of experiences, life stories and ob-
umentation Centre is on the exhibition and no jects with a biographical reference illustrate
44 Here it is important to note that the trope of the cultur- the range of possible experiences and pro-
al loss originates well before the expulsions that followed
World War II, in the defeat of the First World War and the 45 As in many museums of the second modernity (Beier-de
will to regain the lost territories, to “not forget” and to re- Haan 2005, 220–230) to which the §96 Regional Muse-
claim supposedly lost German heritage (Weger 2015, 388– ums belong.
389). For instance, as shown by Tobias Weger, this was 46 Volkhard Knigge writes (2002, 380): “Realia are the basic
done though the diffusion of well-known visual motifs, material of every exhibition. Relics, on the other hand, are
like the city hall of Thorn/Torun, the St. Mary’s Church not exhibited but recovered, preserved, and presented in
in Dazing/Gdansk, etc. that stood in the “lost territories”, special consecration rooms that shield them from any prof-
on post-cards or stamps. anation.”