Lebenshilfe supports the establishment of the memorial and learning site

The Bundesvereinigung Lebenshilfe e. V. wants to actively support the plans for a memorial and learning site (graphic: chezweitz agency) to commemorate the victims of the National Socialist "euthanasia" crimes in Erlangen. It will contribute its experience from Germany-wide cooperation in memorial site work and will establish further contacts with actors in the field of inclusive remembrance work.

These are the main results of a meeting between

• Lord Mayor Florian Janik
• Member of the Bundestag Martina Stamm-Fibich
• Ulla Schmidt, Federal Chairperson of the Bundesvereinigung Lebenshilfe e. V.
• the Federal Managing Director of the Bundesvereinigung Lebenshilfe e. V., Prof. Jeanne Nicklas-Faust
• as well as representatives of the Friedrich-Alexander University and the city archives.

The feasibility study presented at the beginning of January outlines a participatory site that programmatically combines remembrance, learning and life. The aim is to create an inclusive and open space that combines historical reappraisal with educational opportunities and contemporary issues.

During the discussions with Lebenshilfe, a particular focus was placed on the question of how

• inclusive culture of remembrance
• historical reappraisal and
• current scientific research can be brought together in a contemporary way.

In this context, Lebenshilfe contributed experience from Germany-wide cooperation in memorial site work. It emphasized the importance of participation for a lively and accessible place of remembrance.

The discussion about the establishment of such a site is also gaining importance at a national political level. On 29 January, the Bundestag unanimously decided to further intensify the reappraisal of Nazi "euthanasia" and forced sterilizations. Among other things, patient files are to be secured and memorials at the historical crime scenes are to receive long-term support.