"And they were our neighbours" - Review of a successful exhibition

Over the past six weeks, 2,350 people have visited the first major exhibition in the appendix of the new LernWerk in Bocholt. The exhibition focused on the deportation of 26 Jewish citizens from Bocholt to Riga on 10 December 1941 - an event that marked a turning point.

"On the orders of the Secret State Police, 26 Jews from Bocholt were deported to Riga." This sentence, which was entered in the town's chronicle in 1941, is representative of the systematic persecution and extermination of Jewish life in the German Reich. The disenfranchisement of Jews by the Nazi regime had already begun years earlier, but at the beginning of the 1940s, they were to be completely wiped out.

"As the city of Bocholt, we have been a member of the Riga Committee since 2001. The associated obligation to regularly dedicate ourselves to the fates of the Bocholt residents who were deported and for the most part murdered by the Nazi regime and to remember them is not a compulsory task for us, but a matter of course", says Björn Volmering, first city councillor and head of the cultural department.

The exhibition "And they were our neighbours..." placed a special focus on the events surrounding 10 December 1941 in Bocholt. "The exhibition showed political contexts, clarified lines of development and made it clear that the deportations in 1941/42 were by no means a surprise. Rather, it explained how the National Socialist regime systematically wiped out Jewish life and Jewish culture", emphasised Oliver Brenn, Cultural Manager of the City of Bocholt, during the finissage last week.

Art as a bridge to remembrance

The collaboration with the artist couple Dagmar Calais and Chris Steinbrecher from Bremen is particularly noteworthy. With their walk-in artwork "Zwei Tage im Winter - zachor: erinner dich!", they created an impressive emotional connection to the fates of the Bocholt victims and to the more than 25,000 Latvian Jews who were murdered in the Rumbula forest in the run-up to the deportations of the so-called "Reichsjuden".

The project was accompanied by a comprehensive supporting programme, which was developed in collaboration with various cultural institutions and civil society actors. The Bocholter Kunst- und Kulturgemeinschaft e.V. (Bocholt Art and Culture Association) was particularly involved in the programme: Its members artistically designed the staircase of the exhibition space, made regular opening hours possible at weekends with over 350 volunteer hours and guided groups of visitors through the exhibition. "We are overwhelmed by the response from people. Many told us about memories from their own family history and talked about their intense feelings during the visit", reported Dr Werner Loock, a member of the association.

A look into the present: Jewish life today

When designing the exhibition, however, a conscious effort was made not to focus exclusively on the past. "Jews should not only be exposed to a victim narrative. For this reason, the accompanying events also highlighted aspects of Jewish life today and made the joie de vivre rooted in it visible", says Oliver Brenn.

The project, funded by the Ministry of Regional Identity, Communities and Local Government, Building and Digitalisation of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and Volksbank Bocholt eG, was able to appeal to a broad public. The workshops and guided tours with school classes in particular left a lasting impression. It was very impressive to see the dedication and seriousness with which over 500 young pupils, for example, devoted themselves to the topic", summarised Lisa Resing.

The exhibition made it clear that the culture of remembrance can be alive - and that it is more than just looking back: It is a reminder, education and responsibility at the same time.