Das Mädchen mit dem roten Mantel

23.03.2026 11:10 by Barbara Classen

Das Ende der Zeitzeugenschaft

The exhibition brings to life the very different stages of trying to bring justice to the victims and remembering the Shoah through the eyes of those who lived it.

I vaguely knew about the relative public silence on the Holocaust during the first two decades after the war. People wanted to forget, build their lives and preferred not to listen. On the survivors’ side it was felt that their stories where uncomfortable and not welcome. In the exhibition I learnt about the Auschwitz trials as from 1963 with the focus on identifiable facts and little room for emotional story telling. At times victims’ credibility was questioned and the trials were marked by the silence of the perpetrators.

IN 1979 US- television series called “Holocaust” had a huge impact on remembrance culture in Germany and Austria. People started to reflect their memories and Holocaust-Survivors started to speak publicly as representatives of those who were murdered.

The fall of the iron curtain expanded eyewitness testimony considerably. From the nineties onwards learning more about Eastern European forced labour as well as hearing voices from persecuted groups like homosexuals, Roma and Sinti added to our understanding of the nature of national socialism and the Holocaust.

Since the nineties we have seen a huge number of films and books, the most famous film probably being Schindlers Liste. In the exhibition I was moved by an interview with Roma Ligocka, author of the memoir Das Mädchen mit dem roten Mantel. Seeing a small girl in a red coat in the movie evoked memories of her own early childhood surviving Krakow Ghetto and led to her writing the book.

The exhibition asks how we will preserve the stories of the past when the last eyewitnesses are gone, and how we can ensure that their voices continue to resonate in the future. With the rise of the far right in Germany and in many other countries this exhibition is more important than ever.

It Is captivating and interactively curated and in German, English and French, thus perfect for students of German regardless of your level. Please allow for two hours. And if you want to come again, visit the general exhibition on Nazism in Freiburg, which is equally interesting. I went on two consecutive Sundays, and the experience still resonates with me.

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