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Lemkin. Witness to the Age of Genocide

Fritz Bauer Library. The Bravest Library in the World

Double Exhibition

October 9, 2021 – January 31, 2022

The double exhibition “Lemkin. Witness to the Century of Genocide” and “Fritz Bauer Library. The Bravest Library in the World” are united by the personal experiences of two of the most important jurists of the 20th century. Raphael Lemkin and Fritz Bauer survived the Holocaust, they both escaped into exile, Lemkin to the USA, Bauer to Scandinavia. Throughout their lives, their experiences led them to struggle against racism, anti-Semitism and the impunity of crimes against humanity. They were pioneers for international law.

Program (PDF)

Welcome

Dr. Kai Rawe (City Archive – Center for Urban History, Bochum)

Dr. Irmtrud Wojak (Fritz Bauer Forum, Bochum)

Hanna Radziejowska (Pilecki Institute, Berlin)

Tomasz Stefanek (Curator of the exhibition, Pilecki Institute, Warsaw)

Followed by a tour of the exhibition.

The 3-G rules apply, so participation in the opening is possible only for vaccinated, recovered or tested persons. Maximum 40 participants.

The exhibition can be seen from October 9, 2021 to January 31, 2022.

Lemkin. Witness to the Age of Genocide

The Pilecki Institute’s exhibition on Raphael Lemkin, previously on view in Warsaw, will be shown in Bochum for the first time in German.

Winston Churchill declared during World War II at the end of 1941 that the Nazis were committing a “nameless crime.” Raphael Lemkin dedicated himself to finding an appropriate term for these acts of barbarism. Thanks to his studies in philosophy, philology, and the law, he succeeded in coining the term “genocide” in 1943.

Through his personal commitment, Lemkin contributed to the establishment of the United Nations Genocide Convention of 1948. The exhibition tells the story of a man of moral imagination and civic conviction who made the realization of his idea his life’s passion.

Fritz Bauer Library. The Bravest Library in the World

Fritz Bauer’s commitment to democracy and to human rights is currently being given a permanent home. At the center of the exhibition is the Fritz Bauer Library at a fascinating location in the former Havkenscheid mourning hall in Bochum.

The library takes a whole new approach. It has a personal meaning for the lives of its visitors, is not only a data repository, but an interactive place of learning. The “Never again!” of the survivors of human rights violations and genocide comes to life here. As an enduring challenge of a “Forever!” against violence, war and injustice in our history, human rights-oriented action is explored and practiced.

Interested people can also find out in the exhibition how they themselves can participate and reinforce human rights.

Opening hours

Monday closed | Tuesday-Friday 10.00-18.00 | Saturday and Sunday 11.00-17.00

Guided Tours and Press Inquiries

Philipp Nell
Fritz Bauer Forum
Project Management
philipp.nell@buxus-stiftung.de

Inquiries about the Fritz Bauer Library

Jennifer Haas, M.A.
Fritz Bauer Bibliothek und Archiv
Project Management
jennifer.haas@buxus-stiftung.de

Organizers

The Pilecki Institute (Warsaw/Berlin) started its activities in Berlin in 2019 in order to strengthen international cooperation and provide a new scope for researching and processing the experience of the 20th century, including the importance of the European values of democracy and freedom in recent history. The Institute would also like to contribute to the deepening of knowledge of the history of Poland in the 20th century.

The Fritz Bauer Forum in Bochum is planned as an international place for research, education and dialogue on human rights and democracy. It is dedicated to the life’s work of its namesake, the social democrat, resistance fighter and survivor Fritz Bauer, who brought Auschwitz, Nazi justice and Nazi medicine as well as the crimes of the Wehrmacht to justice.

In this cooperative project, both institutions are united by their commitment to long-term cooperation with the cultural institutions and universities of the partner country.