Description
»Be human« – on the occasion of the liberation of Auschwitz 79 years ago, journalist Marcel Reif reminded us of his father’s plea at this year’s commemoration at the Bundestag. Our panel discussion with the above title follows on from the »A Mentsh is a Mentsh« series of talks organized by the Bundeskunsthalle’s Studio Bonn in the first half of the year. In Yiddish, »Mentsh« means a »good person« who treats others with respect and kindness.
In the year since Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack on Israel, we have seen a significant increase in anti-Semitic attacks and heated debates and clashes between pro-Palestinian protesters and the police at universities and on the streets in Germany. But we have also seen numerous demonstrations against anti-Semitism and racism, some of them involving hundreds of thousands of people. In our country, these positions face each other irreconcilably given the background of the National Socialist past and the obligations arising from it. They influence the discussion about the state’s self-image and our culture of remembrance. Culture is not unaffected by this either and must increasingly address the question of its responsibility, but also the freedom of art.
In dialog with our guests, we are interested in the possibilities of culture, art and perhaps music in particular to counteract the anti-Semitic and racist resentment in our society, which has been exacerbated by terror and war in the Middle East. How can we manage to listen to each other and our respective stories in a new way and encounter each other as »good people«?