Altonaer Museum | 20. Juni 2026 | 16-17 Uhr, 1. Stock, Innenhof
The Dynamic Memory Lab ‘Nước Đức. Vietnamese-German Migration History(ies)’ examines Vietnamese-German migration history and explores the question of how history is remembered and recounted – or, conversely, repressed and concealed. The exhibition focuses on the memories and experiences of the Vietnamese-German community, which have unfolded and intersected over several decades, navigating the tensions between flight and contract labour, between North and South Vietnam and East and West Germany, and between a history of violence and self-empowerment.
The two curators, Dan Thy Nguyen and Nina Reiprich, will guide visitors through the exhibition, explaining historical contexts and offering insights into the development of the Dynamic Memory Lab. They will demonstrate how different memories and experiences are interwoven and can be interpreted as a shared frame of reference. In doing so, they invite visitors to question boundaries in discourses on memory, to highlight gaps and contradictions, and to understand the history of Vietnamese-German migration as part of a shared, multi-perspective history. Afterwards, they will answer questions and engage in conversation with visitors.
Following stops in Rostock and Chemnitz, the exhibition opened on 11 March 2026 as part of the CPPD Festival at the Altonaer Museum and will run until 6 July 2026.
The Dynamic Memory Lab is the CPPD’s central exhibition format. It understands the culture of remembrance as a living and evolving process and responds to the dynamics and specific needs of contemporary cultures of remembrance in the 21st century.
Registration here:
Die Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse (CPPD) steht für kuratorische Forschung, Erinnerungspraxis und partizipative Kulturarbeit mit internationalen Partner*innen. Die CPPD ist ein kollaboratives Netzwerk und eine produktive Plattform, das mit rund 100 Künstler*innen, Wissenschaftler*innen, Journalist*innen und Aktivist*innen arbeitet, die auf unterschiedlichste Weise zu pluralen Erinnerungskulturen forschen und arbeiten. Ziel des Netzwerks ist die Entwicklung und Etablierung einer pluralen europäischen Erinnerungskultur.
„Overcoming the wounds of the colonial era does not mean closing them up or soothing them, but rather bringing to light the global interconnections in which formerly colonised societies remain entangled to this day.” (Dr. Ibou Diop)
On 24 and 25 April 2026, the Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse (CPPD) held its second festival of the year at the Biblioteca de Alcântara – José Dias Coelho in Lisbon. Under the title ‘After the Carnations – Cycles of Decolonisation and Democratic Futures’, the first day brought together a variety of formats: a panel discussion, artistic performances and the opening of the Dynamic Memory Lab ‘Cycles of Decolonisation’. The second day of the festival focused on a workshop exploring the implications of the Carnation Revolution and practices of public remembrance, as well as a visit to the central commemorative march.
Paneldiscussion “After the Carnations – Cycles of Decolonisation and Democratic Futures”
The event kicked off with the panel discussion “After the Carnations – Cycles of Decolonisation and Democratic Futures”. Moderated by Dr Cátia Severino, Dr Iolanda Évora and Dr Ibou Diop brought together perspectives on Portuguese and German remembrance culture in a discussion conducted in Portuguese and German with simultaneous interpretation, relating them to a European debate on how to deal with the colonial legacy, and what it means when memory is no longer shaped solely by institutions, but by communities, artistic practices and civil society engagement.
In his presentation, Ibou Diop introduced Berlin’s remembrance concept, “Remembering Colonialism”. The Berlin concept highlights colonial history as a structurally defining component of German and European history, closely linked to genocide and leaving deep traces in the history of mentalities that remain visible to this day: in street names, in museum collections, and in school curricula. Inspired by Édouard Glissant and Achille Mbembe, the concept advocates for transversality, for making visible the interconnections, cross-references and resonances between different experiences of violence, including their link to the history of National Socialism, whose misanthropic traditions of thought had their precursors in colonialism. Remembrance is understood here as a practice, as a process of listening, of entering into relationships and of enduring contradictions, rather than as a completed act.
In her presentation, Iolanda Évora provided an introduction to the Portuguese context and demonstrated how the negotiation of citizenship and political participation in Portugal remains, to this day, shaped by the mythology of a ‘gentle and benevolent’ colonisation. A mythology that overlooks both the African struggles for independence and the contributions of people of African descent to contemporary Portuguese society. Using concrete examples, from the absence of a slavery memorial in Lisbon to the controversial “Portugal dos Pequenitos” park in the Portuguese city of Coimbra, she illustrated how institutional memory politics actively resists new interpretations. At the same time, she highlighted the growing counter-movement of Afro-descendant activists who use the word as a form of public intervention.
„A negação, a romantização e o esforço em perpetuar os símbolos e as práticas de memória deparam-se com narrativas e criações que não são simples contra-relatos, pois constituem-se nas margens, mas no coração da situação.”
(„Denial, romanticisation and attempts to preserve symbols and practices of remembrance come up against narratives and creations that are not merely counter-narratives – they emerge on the fringes, yet at the very heart of the situation.“)
The discussion ultimately centred on a key tension: symbolic recognition alone is not enough if it is not accompanied by a real redistribution of voice and power. Both speakers made it clear that a more democratically inclusive future requires concrete changes – in education, in the public sphere, and in terms of who defines a society’s shared symbols and narratives.
Dynamic Memory Lab »Cycles of Decolonisation«
The first day of the festival concluded with the opening of the Dynamic Memory Lab »Cycles of Decolonisation«, curated by Dr Cátia Severino and André Soares.
The DML is the CPPD’s central exhibition format: it operates on a site-specific basis, responds to local needs for remembrance, and sees itself as a process-oriented format – in contrast to self-contained exhibition narratives.
The Dynamic Memory Lab »Cycles of Decolonisation« invites visitors to engage with the legacy of European colonialism and its contemporary manifestations. The exhibition places particular emphasis on the structures of dehumanisation that remain effective to this day. It seeks to break down the invisibility associated with dehumanisation and places the human aspect at the centre of our attention. Using the example of delivery drivers, it shows us the contemporary manifestations in which the legacy of European colonialism persists to this day. »Cycles of Decolonisation« illustrates how contemporary economic systems can replicate colonial dynamics, even without the direct violence and territorial occupation associated with historical colonisation.
Artistic performances
The opening programme featured a rich array of artistic performances. A choir performed key political songs by artists including José Afonso, José Mário Branco and Adriano Correia de Oliveira, all of whom are closely associated with the Portuguese dictatorship and the Carnation Revolution.
In the staged, performative reading of “Caderno de Memórias Coloniais” (“The Notebook of Colonial Memories”) by the Coletivo de Teatro da Biblioteca de Alcântara – José Dias Coelho, excerpts from the work of Isabela Figueiredo were performed, offering an open and unflinching view of the realities of late Portuguese colonialism and colonial violence in Mozambique, as well as the political climate surrounding the “repatriation” of hundreds of thousands of people, primarily from Angola and Mozambique, to Portugal. The reading combined personal memory with political history and shed light on the ambivalences of colonial power relations. The contributions brought history to life in a powerful way and created a collective space of remembrance and resistance. In her live performance “RIBBONS” in the garden of the Biblioteca, the artist Renee van Bavel sewed together collected commemorative ribbons from international sites of remembrance to form a continuous, collective work of art. The work connects different stories, perspectives and forms of remembrance into a shared, transnational narrative. As an open and evolving practice, RIBBONS invites reflection on memory, the present and the possibilities of solidarity and peace.
The opening event attracted a great deal of interest, with over 100 visitors in attendance. Following stops in Berlin and Madrid, the DML’s »Cycles of Decolonisation« exhibition will be on display at the Biblioteca de Alcântara – José Dias Coelho until September 2026.
Workshop & Guided Tour
The second day of the festival began with the workshop “The Missing D – From Utopia to Denial”, led by Dr Cátia Severino and André Soares, and culminated in a joint visit to the central commemorative march through Lisbon.
The workshop took as its starting point the question of the “missing D”. The Carnation Revolution, which in 1974 heralded the end of the fascist dictatorship of the “Estado Novo”, was programmatically focused on three goals: democratisation, development, decolonisation (Democratizar, Desenvolver, Descolonizar). Whilst political democratisation was achieved, the third D remained unfulfilled. Decolonisation was treated primarily as a military-political process, but not as a transformation of memory and social structures. This gap continues to shape Portuguese memory culture to this day: the public narrative remained focused for a long time on the retornados, the returning colonists, whilst colonial violence remained largely invisible in school curricula and public spaces. The workshop also demonstrated how colonial structures persist in the present day, for instance in the concept of racial capitalism, where exploitation changes form but does not disappear, thereby also highlighting the central themes of the DML exhibition »Cycles of Decolonisation«.
The ensuing discussions and the visit to the commemorative march vividly highlighted what makes 25 April unique in a European context: the march as a living, embodied practice of remembrance, as a continuation of the revolution through collective presence in public space. It is both a society-wide event and a space for negotiation: Different groups claim the day in their own ways and bring competing narratives about what the revolution was and what it continues to demand to this day. This plurality is not understood as a threat to remembrance, but as its living expression, a model that differs significantly from more institutionalised or polarised forms of commemoration in other European contexts.
On 24 and April 2026, the 2nd CPPD Festival “Voices Rising: Memory Unsilenced” will take place in Lisbon. Together with CPPD members Cátia Severino and André Soares, the Dynamic Memory Lab “Cycles of Decolonisation” will be opened at the Biblioteca de Alcântara – José Dias Coelho, following its previous stations in Berlin and Madrid. The opening programme includes performances, musical contributions, and a panel discussion. The event will take place in Portuguese and German with simultaneous translation.
PROGRAMME
CHOIR PERFORMANCE
24 April 2026 | 6 pm
The choir performs key political songs by José Afonso, José Mário Branco and Adriano Correia de Oliveira, closely associated with the Portuguese dictatorship and the Carnation Revolution. The musical performance makes history audible and opens a collective space for remembrance and resistance.
PANEL DISCUSSION
After the Carnations – Cycles of Decolonisation and Democratic Futures
24 April 2026 | 6:30 pm
with Dr Iolanda Évora, Dr Ibou Diop & Dr Cátia Severino
For a long time, visibility in memory cultures and politics was understood as something institutionally managed through museums, curricula, and official commemorations. This model is increasingly being challenged. Today, remembrance unfolds in decentralised and collaborative ways, shaped by communities and shared practices. While this shift enables new voices and new forms of visibility, it also raises important questions of legitimacy, responsibility, and solidarity: Whose memories are foregrounded? Which remain unheard? And how can collective remembrance be sustained beyond institutional control?
Within this context, addressing the legacy of European colonialism is crucial. Long-term and socially effective strategies of decolonisation are needed, and artistic as well as participatory approaches can play a key role in shaping these processes and fostering a resilient culture of remembrance. Taking place on 24 April, on the eve of the anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, the panel reflects on the role of remembrance culture in Europe today. It brings together members of the European CPPD network and Portuguese experts. Dr Ibou Diop will present Kolonialismus erinnern (Remembering Colonialism), a city-wide remembrance concept for the state of Berlin, which advocates for the critical integration of colonial history into educational and civic practice. Dr Iolanda Évora contributes perspectives from her work in the European project Democracy in Action, particularly in the field of Race, Ethnicity and Civic Participation, and draws on her previous role as coordinator of the project Afro Port. The discussion will be moderated by Cátia Severino.
STAGED READING
»The Notebook of Colonial Memories«
24 April 2026 | 7:30 pm
with Coletivo de Teatro da Biblioteca de Alcântara – José Dias Coelho
In a staged reading, excerpts from Isabela Figueiredo’s autobiographical work are performed, rendering colonial violence in Mozambique tangible through the perspective of a young girl. The reading interweaves personal memory with political history and highlights the ambivalences of colonial power relations.
EXHIBITION OPENING
Dynamic Memory Lab »Cycles of Decolonisation«
24 April 2026 | 8-9:30 pm
The Dynamic Memory Lab »Cycles of Decolonisation« invites its visitors to engage with a central topic of our remembrance culture: European colonial history and decolonisation. In an immersive as well as interactive exhibition, visitors will be confronted with the legacy of European colonialism and its contemporary manifestations. The exhibition places a special focus on the structures of dehumanisation that remain effective in the present. It seeks to dismantle the invisibility associated with dehumanisation and places the human aspect at the centre of our attention.
»Cycles of Decolonisation« was developed under the curation of Cátia Severino and André Soares, with contributions by European artists, activists and academics of the CPPD. The curators direct our gaze to the continuities of European colonialism. Using the example of Food Delivery Riders, they show us the contemporary manifestations in which the legacy of European colonialism persists in the present. »Cycles of Decolonisation« illustrates how contemporary economic systems can repeat colonial dynamics, even without the direct violence and territorial occupation associated with historical colonisation.
After stations in Berlin and Madrid, the DML “Cycles of Decolonisation” will be opened at the Biblioteca de Alcântara – José Dias Coelho in Lisbon.
PERFORMANCE
Ribbons
24. April 2026 | 6-9 pm
with Renee van Bavel
In the live performance RIBBONS, the artist sews together commemorative ribbons collected from memorial sites around the world into an ongoing, collective artwork. The piece brings together different stories, perspectives, and forms of remembrance into a shared, transnational narrative. As an open and evolving practice, RIBBONS invites reflection on memory, the present moment, and the possibilities of togetherness and peace.
> Registration for the 24 April here
*The entire programme on 24 April 2026 is open to the public.
WORKSHOP & GUIDED TOUR
From Revolution to Reflection: Embodying April 25 in Collective Memory
25 April 2026 | 1-5 pm
More than five decades on, the annual April 25 march endures as a form of embodied remembrance, where memory is not only recalled but enacted through collective presence in public space. This performative continuity reveals how the Revolution is lived, transmitted, and re-signified across generations. At the same time, different social groups articulate and claim April in distinct ways, exposing tensions, silences, and competing narratives about what the Revolution was, and what it still demands.
The workshop and the guided tour will be conducted by CPPD members Dr Cátia Severino and André Soares.
*The programme on 25 April 2026 is intended for CPPD members.
___________________________
Festival CPPD »Vozes em Ascensão: Memória Sem Silenciamento«
Depois dos Cravos – Ciclos de Descolonização e Futuros Democráticos
24 & 25 de abril de 2026 | Biblioteca de Alcântara – José Dias Coelho, Lisboa
Nos dias 24 e 25 de abril de 2026, terá lugar em Lisboa a 2.ª edição do Festival CPPD “Vozes em Ascensão: Memória Sem Silenciamento”. Um dos destaques do festival será a inauguração do Dynamic Memory Lab “Cycles of Decolonisation”, juntamente com os curadores Dr.ª Cátia Severino e André Soares. O programa de abertura inclui performances, momentos musicais e um painel de discussão. O evento decorrerá em inglês, português e alemão.
PROGRAMA
PERFORMANCE DO CORO
24 de abril de 2026 | 18h
Um coro interpreta canções políticas centrais de, entre outros, José Afonso, José Mário Branco e Adriano Correia de Oliveira, estreitamente ligadas à ditadura portuguesa e à Revolução dos Cravos. A performance musical torna a história audível e cria um espaço coletivo de memória e resistência.
PAINEL DE DISCUSSÃO
Depois dos Cravos – Ciclos de Descolonização e Futuros Democráticos
24 de abril de 2026 | 18h30
com Dr Iolanda Évora, Dr Ibou Diop e Dr Cátia Severino
Durante muito tempo, a visibilidade nas culturas e políticas de memória foi entendida como algo gerido institucionalmente através de museus, currículos escolares e comemorações oficiais. Este modelo tem vindo a ser cada vez mais questionado. Hoje, a memória desenvolve-se de forma descentralizada e colaborativa, moldada por comunidades e por práticas partilhadas. Embora esta mudança permita novas vozes e novas formas de visibilidade, levanta também questões importantes de legitimidade, responsabilidade e solidariedade: Que memórias são colocadas em primeiro plano? Quais permanecem por ouvir? E como pode a memória coletiva ser sustentada para além do controlo institucional?
Neste contexto, é fundamental abordar o legado do colonialismo europeu. São necessárias estratégias de desconstrução colonial a longo prazo e socialmente eficazes, e abordagens artísticas e participativas podem desempenhar um papel importante na construção desses processos e no fortalecimento de uma cultura de memória resiliente.
Realizado a 24 de abril, na véspera do aniversário da Revolução dos Cravos, o painel reflete sobre o papel da cultura de memória na Europa contemporânea. Reúne membros da rede europeia CPPD e especialistas portugueses. Dr. Ibou Diop apresentará Kolonialismus erinnern (Remembering Colonialism), um conceito de memória à escala da cidade para o estado de Berlim, que defende a integração crítica da história colonial nas práticas educativas e cívicas. A Dra. Iolanda Évora traz perspetivas a partir do seu trabalho no projeto europeu Democracy in Action, em particular na área de Race, Ethnicity and Civic Participation, e baseia-se na sua anterior função como coordenadora do projeto Afro Port. A discussão será moderada por Cátia Severino.
INAUGURAÇÃO
Dynamic Memory Lab »Cycles of Decolonisation«
24 de abril de 2026 | 20-21h30
O Dynamic Memory Lab »Cycles of Decolonisation« convida o público a envolver-se com um tema central da nossa cultura de memória: a história colonial europeia e os processos de descolonização. Numa exposição imersiva e interativa, os visitantes serão confrontados com o legado do colonialismo europeu e as suas manifestações contemporâneas. A exposição dá especial atenção às estruturas de desumanização que continuam a produzir efeitos no presente. Procura desmontar a invisibilidade associada à desumanização e colocar o elemento humano no centro da nossa atenção.
»Cycles of Decolonisation« foi desenvolvido sob a curadoria de Cátia Severino e André Soares, com contributos de artistas, ativistas e académicos europeus do CPPD. Os curadores direcionam o olhar para as continuidades do colonialismo europeu. A partir do exemplo dos Estafetas de Plataformas Digitais, mostram de que forma o legado do colonialismo europeu se manifesta ainda hoje. »Cycles of Decolonisation« ilustra como os sistemas económicos contemporâneos podem reproduzir dinâmicas coloniais, mesmo sem a violência direta e a ocupação territorial associadas à colonização histórica.
Depois de ter passado por Berlim e Madrid, o Dynamic Memory Lab “Cycles of Decolonisation” será inaugurado na Biblioteca de Alcântara – José Dias Coelho, em Lisboa.
PERORMANCE
Ribbons
24 de abril de 2026 | 18-21h
com Renee van Bavel
Na performance ao vivo RIBBONS, a artista costura fitas comemorativas recolhidas em locais de memória por todo o mundo, criando uma obra coletiva em constante desenvolvimento. A peça reúne diferentes histórias, perspetivas e formas de recordação numa narrativa transnacional partilhada. Como prática aberta e em evolução, RIBBONS convida à reflexão sobre a memória, o presente e as possibilidades de união e paz.
> Inscrição para o programa de 24 de abril
* Todo o programa de 24 de abril é aberto ao público.
VISITA GUIADA & WORKSHOP
Da Revolução à Reflexão: Incorporar o 25 de Abril na Memória Coletiva
25 de abril de 2026 | 13-17h
Mais de cinco décadas depois, a marcha anual do 25 de Abril mantém-se como uma forma de rememoração incorporada, em que a memória não é apenas evocada, mas encenada através da presença coletiva no espaço público. Esta continuidade performativa revela como a Revolução é vivida, transmitida e ressignificada ao longo das gerações. Ao mesmo tempo, diferentes grupos sociais articulam e reivindicam o “Abril” de modos distintos, expondo tensões, silêncios e narrativas concorrentes sobre o que foi a Revolução e sobre aquilo que ela ainda exige.
O workshop e a visita guiada serão conduzidos pelos membros da CPPD, Dra. Cátia Severino e André Soares.
* O programa de 25 de abril de 2026 destina-se a membros da CPPD.
CPPD Festival “Voices Rising: Memory Unsilenced”
11 March 2026 | Altonaer Museum, Hamburg
On 11 March 2026, CPPD hosted its first festival of the year at the Altonaer Museum in Hamburg. Under the title “Voices Rising: Memory Unsilenced,” the day combined three different formats: a civil society networking meeting, a memorial ceremony for two Vietnamese victims of early right-wing terrorism in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the opening of the Dynamic Memory Lab “Nước Đức. Vietnamese-German Migration History(ies).”
Networking Meeting: Whose Memory Counts?
The event opened with the networking meeting “(In)visibilities in Memory Culture,” moderated by Avra Emin and attended by over 50 representatives from the arts, education, and civil society. At its core was the question of the selectivity of memory-political discourse: Which stories are institutionally supported, which remain marginal—and what does this mean for the practices of civil society actors? CPPD curator Max Czollek formulated a diagnosis that set the tone for the day: the discourse on memory culture, long functioning as a progressive counterpoint to state narratives, is increasingly itself becoming state-driven—and in the process shifting to the right. For the initiatives present, this was less an abstract observation than a concrete challenge: how can alternative formats of remembrance be sustained against this trend? The discussions made clear that the sharing of resources and cooperation between communities play a central role—not as an ideal, but as an operational necessity.
Commemoration of Châu and Lân
In the afternoon, a Buddhist-inspired memorial ceremony took place for Nguyễn Ngoc Châu and Đỗ Anh Lân, who were murdered in 1980 in a racially motivated arson attack on what was then Halskestraße in Hamburg-Billbrook—one of the early right-wing terrorist murders in the Federal Republic. The survivors Thi Kim Thoa Ngũ and Thời Trong Ngũ set up a traditional memorial altar with flowers and fruit. The moment brought together personal mourning and collective remembrance. The Ngũ couple have been committed for decades to ensuring that these murders do not disappear from public memory. In 2024, part of Halskestraße was renamed “Châu-und-Lân-Straße”—a result of sustained civil society pressure. The ceremony at the Altonaer Museum was not an official, representative commemoration, but an act of remembrance shaped by those directly affected.
Dynamic Memory Lab “Nước Đức”
The day concluded with the opening of the Dynamic Memory Lab “Nước Đức. Vietnamese-German Migration History(ies),” curated by Dan Thy Nguyen and Nina Reiprich. The DML is CPPD’s central exhibition format: it is site-specific, responds to local needs of remembrance, and understands itself as a processual format—in contrast to closed exhibition narratives. The exhibition is dedicated to Vietnamese-German migration history in all its heterogeneity: contract labour in the GDR, flight and asylum, racist violence, and social participation. It makes visible that “German-Vietnamese history” is not a single, unified story, but a multi-perspectival and globally entangled one—and that its absence from dominant memory discourse is a political fact, not merely a gap. The opening attracted great interest; over 100 visitors attended. The exhibition will be on view at the Altonaer Museum until 6 July 2026.
Artistic Contributions to the Opening
The opening was densely accompanied by artistic contributions. Journalist Nhi Le read from her text “Part of the East,” in which she describes growing up as part of the second generation of Vietnamese-German families in East Germany—thus rendering Vietnamese-German experiences legible as a constitutive part of East German history, rather than as a marginal phenomenon. Minh Duc Pham developed, in a lecture performance, voices of migrants engaging with questions of solidarity, racism, and belonging. Illustrator Minh Voll presented the expanded edition of the exhibition catalogue “Nước Đức.” The evening was accompanied musically by the Lotus Ensemble with traditional Vietnamese music.
Networking Meeting on History Culture – Networks, Knowledge Transfer, Cooperation
On 13 and 14 March 2026, a two-day networking meeting titled “History Culture – Networks, Knowledge Transfer, Cooperation” followed in Hamburg, with numerous CPPD members participating as speakers and moderators.
Samuel Stern and Furkan Yüksel moderated a workshop on collective forms of remembrance and dialogical formats between different memory communities, focusing on how spaces for dialogue must be designed so that different experiences can genuinely enter into relation without one perspective dominating the other.
Nicole Schweiß and Igor Mitchnik led the workshop “Remembering the Present – How Do We Deal with Simultaneity?”, addressing one of the central challenges of contemporary memory work: the coexistence of multiple, sometimes competing claims to remembrance in an increasingly polarized society. CPPD curator Jo Frank spoke on the panel “Performance: Do We Need Rituals and What For?”—a question that gained particular urgency following the memorial ceremony during the festival day: what function do ritualized forms of remembrance serve, and when do they become an obstacle to a living practice of remembrance? In addition, the DML curators guided participants through the exhibition.
Outlook
The festival series “Voices Rising” will continue on 24 and 25 April 2026 at the Biblioteca de Alcântara – José Dias Coelho in Lisbon. Under the title “After the Carnations: Cycles of Decolonisation and Democratic Futures,” the Dynamic Memory Lab “Cycles of Decolonisation” will open there, focusing on European colonial history and contemporary decolonial processes.
Photos: Natalia Reich
The CPPD provides microgrants for initiatives that engage with and advance pluralistic approaches to European cultures of remembrance.
Details:
Timeline:
How to apply?
Microgrants are available to CPPD members who actively engage in the CPPD network. Funding is provided for projects that address new and innovative approaches to European remembrance culture. Multilateral collaborations are particularly encouraged.
Applications will be assessed based on the following criteria:
Applications can be submitted until 31 March 2026.
On 11 March 2026, the CPPD festival ‘Voices Rising for Plural Memory Culture’ will stop in Hamburg. The highlight of the event will be the opening of the Dynamic Memory Lab ‘Nước Đức. Vietnamese-German Migration Hi | stories’.
After stops in Berlin, Halle, Rostock, Chemnitz, Madrid and Zurich last year, we are continuing our work this year and would like to open up further spaces for concrete exchange and continue the cooperation we have begun. Our goal is to network institutions, organisations and actors within the field of memory politics and culture, thereby creating synergies between topics, resources and projects.
PROGRAMME:
NETWORK MEETING:
»(In)visibility in Cultures of Remembrance«
10:30 am –2:30 pm | Altonaer Museum
for representatives from remembrance-political and cultural institutions
*
MEMORIAL CEREMONY:
»Mindful Remembrance: Châu & Lân«
3:30–4:30 pm | Altonaer Museum
In the presence of Thi Kim Thoa Ngu und Thoi Trong Ngu
*
DML OPENING
»Nước Đức. Vietnamese – German Migration Hi | stories«
6.00 – 8.30 pm | Altonaer Museum
with Nhi Le, Minh Duc Pham, Thi Kim Thoa Ngu, Thoi Trong Ngu und den Kurator*innen Dan Thy Nguyen und Nina Reiprich
Musical accompaniment by the Lotus Ensemble
For a long time, visibility in the context of memory politics was considered to be exclusively controllable – through curricula, museums, state commemorative days and subsidies. Who is remembered and how seemed to be institutionally determined, with memory as a top-down organised commodity. This model is now outdated. Visibility works fundamentally differently today. Social media enables everyone to produce content, curate it and generate attention. Visibility can no longer be controlled centrally – it arises in a decentralised, dynamic manner, in collaborative processes.
This decentralisation of memory has a disruptive effect. It expands the culture of remembrance with new voices and perspectives, but also raises questions about expertise and legitimacy. Who decides which stories are relevant? Which narratives are considered reliable? In this changed landscape, memory is no longer controlled solely by institutions – it must be reflected upon and taken responsibility for by communities themselves.
This requires new skills: communities need the tools, skills and knowledge to actively shape memory. Visibility thus becomes a collaborative process that goes beyond mere sharing – as cross-community sharing, in which expertise, technical resources and reach are exchanged between different groups. Memory becomes a living, networked process supported by many.
This networking holds the potential for an inclusive, participatory and self-determined politics of memory – a space in which visibility is not imposed, but lived, reflected upon and shared. Together, we want to work out which specific tools can support this new visibility, which risks need to be considered, and which resources are required.
Moderation von Avra Emin (Socialworker, Activist)
We invite you to a Buddhist memorial ceremony at the Altonaer Museum. Nguyễn Ngọc Châu and Đỗ Anh Lân were two young Vietnamese refugees who were murdered in 1980 in a racist arson attack by neo-Nazis at a shelter on Halskestraße in Hamburg Billbrook, one of the first right-wing terrorist murders in the Federal Republic of Germany.
In the presence of Thi Kim Thoa Ngu and Thoi Trong Ngu, survivors of the attack, we will pause in shared mindfulness to remember the lives of Nguyễn Ngọc Châu and Đỗ Anh Lân and commemorate them.
The Dynamic Memory Lab ‘Nước Đức’ examines the history of Vietnamese-German migration and explores the question of how history is remembered and recounted – or suppressed and concealed. The exhibition focuses on the memories and experiences of the Vietnamese-German community, which have moved and intersected over several decades between flight and contract work, between North and South Vietnam and East and West Germany, between a history of violence and self-empowerment.
Curated by Dan Thy Nguyen and Nina Reiprich, the Dynamic Memory Lab ‘Nước Đức’ creates a space for experiences that are rarely considered in context or in relation to one another, even though they are closely intertwined. Together, they form a field of tension in memory culture that encompasses all political and social directions of the Cold War and the post-reunification period – like a compass that reveals ideological breaks as well as biographical interconnections. The curators bring together contributions from artists and activists of the second generation of Vietnamese-German immigrants who are dedicated to exploring the history of Vietnamese-German migration from multiple perspectives. They invite and encourage us to understand this as part of our shared history, to question the boundaries in discourses on memory, and to strengthen memory as a function of our society.
Through artistic explorations, personal texts and interview sequences, they trace the complex experiences of the Vietnamese-German communities, revealing contradictions, ruptures and gaps. These experiences are recounted as a mutual frame of reference: as memories of a pluralistic community – and as memories of a pluralistic society. These are not linear narratives, but an interplay of different perspectives. In doing so, it asks central questions: Who is heard? Which memories are given space? And what remains in the shadows? And how can a shared, multi-perspective history be told? The Dynamic Memory Lab ‘Nước Đức’ opens up a space for new, multi-layered forms of shared memory.
The Dynamic Memory Lab ‘Nước Đức’ opened on 20 September 2025 in Rostock as part of the heimaten festival and in cooperation with the Volkstheater Rostock. After its first stop at the Documentation Centre on the NSU Complex in Chemnitz, the DML ‘Nước Đức’ will be on display at the Altonaer Museum from 11 March to 6 July 2026.
The CPPD brings together 100 artists, scientists, journalists and activists with over 250 organisations. In 2025, its work focused on postcolonial memory and the Vietnamese diaspora in Germany, with an exhibition space that toured Europe.
With the European Congress ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’, the ‘Memory Matters’ festival in Halle, Rostock and Chemnitz, and our Plural Remembrance Calendar, we addressed a wide range of topics related to plural memory culture. Our festivals in eastern Germany in particular showed that plural memory strengthens democratic structures and acts as a mode of social participation.
This brief review of the year shows pictures and impressions from the past year and provides insights into our festivals, events and Dynamic Memory Labs in Berlin, Halle, Rostock, Chemnitz, Madrid and Zurich.
In 2026, we intend to continue our work and further expand the impact of the CPPD through stronger cooperation, new formats for exchange, and targeted support where civil society is particularly challenged. Under the heading Voices Rising, we are planning the next European festivals, networking meetings, workshops, and further Dynamic Memory Labs.
Video: Andreas Daniel Jakob
13 –14 November 2025 | Zurich/Schwitzerland
An event in cooperation with not_your_bubble, a project of the Zurich Institute for Interreligious Dialogue (ZIID)
The creation of a pluralistic, contemporary culture of remembrance requires sustainable structures and long-term cooperation across European borders. Against the backdrop of increasing social polarisation in Europe, pluralistic and non-public spaces create a crucial prerequisite: they offer opportunities for exchange and networking among European actors and enable the development of concrete concepts and strategies for a pluralistic, more inclusive and future-oriented culture of remembrance. Beyond the question of safe(r), brave(r) or accountable spaces, these spaces must be designed in such a way that they enable the visibility of diverse perspectives and expand the circle of those who participate in shaping the culture of remembrance – for a plurality of memory that can strengthen our European democracy.
As part of the European network meeting of the CPPD, civil society actors from various European contexts gathered in Zurich to reflect on cooperation in the contexts of remembrance culture and politics, present projects and develop strategies for joint work. The meeting focused on the tension between country-specific conditions and the need for European cooperation and transnational strategies.
Using selected projects, the video and audio project ‘Atemräume’ (Breathing Spaces) on questions of belonging, history of violence, culture of remembrance and visibility (Brunnenpassage Vienna), the Dynamic Memory Lab ‘Cycles of Decolonisation’ on decolonisation processes in Europe (CPPD) and the event ‘Neutrality Theatre – Myth of Switzerland Put to the Test!’, on gaps in Swiss memory culture, a variety of approaches to central discourses on memory culture were presented and discussed.
Hannan Salamat summarised the outcome of the network meeting by emphasising that ‘the driving force behind transformative processes is above all the cohesion and commitment of civil society, which creates safe, courageous and responsible spaces.’
The Plural Remembrance Calendar 2026 will be available soon and can now be pre-ordered.
The calendar brings together events of remembrance and places them within the context of plural memory. Continuously updated, process-oriented, and expandable, it includes both official days of remembrance and plural commemorative events. Contributions by CPPD members and guest authors take the form of journalistic, academic, and creative pieces. The calendar points to “gaps of memory” and fills blind spots in public remembrance.
If you would like to receive the Plural Remembrance Calendar 2026, you can order it here by 1 December 2025. Distribution will start soon after – so make sure to get your copy in time!
This year’s gathering is held under the motto: Across Borders! Together, we want to explore the following questions: How can we create spaces in which global entanglements become visible—while local action remains possible? What do we need in order to remain capable of taking action beyond geographical, institutional, as well as personal and positional boundaries? We do not want to start from scratch, but rather build on what already exists: The network meeting is intentionally designed to be open and dialogical, offering space for resonance, exchange, and collective reflection.
On Thursday, we will reflect together on the intentions behind creating spaces for exchange as hosts, and the attitudes with which we enter these spaces as participants. What conditions are needed to foster plural, multi-perspective spaces of resonance—spaces that challenge us without overwhelming us?
We will also ask when protected spaces are necessary to foster safety and trust, and when brave spaces are called for – spaces that encourage us to question boundaries and open ourselves to new perspectives. Finally, we will explore our understandings of identity: when can thinking in terms of identity be productive and connective – and when does it lead to separation?
On Friday, we invite you to collectively explore what it takes to remain capable of acting and in solidarity across geographic, institutional, and disciplinary borders. We will look at projects from Switzerland, Germany, and Austria that have sustained and inspired us, while also examining their different socio-political contexts.
Together, we will discuss how, in the face of current challenges, we can experiment with new forms of thinking, acting, and being together.
How can we already begin to practice tomorrow – in our structures, in our work, and in our shared creation – today?
The European Network Meeting will be held in collaboration with not_your_bubble
Digitalization fundamentally shapes how memory is preserved and history is conveyed. Digital archives, AI-supported witness interviews, and holographic representations create new access points to historical experiences. At the same time, they present us with central challenges: How can historical testimonies be communicated digitally without being subjected to the logic of platforms and algorithms? What significance do physical memorial sites have when remembrance increasingly takes place virtually?
The CPPD Festival “Memory Matters” on October 8, 2025, in Chemnitz addressed these questions in cooperation with OFFENER PROZESS – A Documentation Center on the NSU Complex. In the European Capital of Culture 2025, memory, transformation, and social discourse meet in immediate ways.
The core of the festival was the panel discussion “Practices of Remembrance in Digital Spaces” with Dr. Jonas Fegert, Nhi Le, and Susanne Siegert, moderated by Benjamin Fischer. The discussion examined how memory culture is changing in digital publics and what ethical and political responsibilities accompany this shift. Susanne Siegert, journalist and influencer, illuminated the difficulties of adapting historical research for social media—in the tension between generating attention on the one hand and the danger of oversimplification and sensationalization on the other. She emphasized the potential of digital platforms while stressing that institutions must develop flexible and adaptive memory-political strategies in times of continuous paradigm shifts to reach younger generations. Jonas Fegert highlighted that research on information systems and social networks is directly linked to democratic processes and minority rights, as digital platforms increasingly shape social discourse and memory cultures. He warned that algorithmic structures and synthetic media can emotionalize and manipulate content, profoundly influencing public perception and democratic processes. Nhi Le directed attention to post-migrant perspectives and the question of how digital publics can give voice to marginalized communities.
The panel concluded with concrete references to best-practice examples, as well as the demand for stronger political focus on state-supported digital infrastructure. This should enable democratic communication cultures and inclusive forms of collective memory in social networks and counteract anti-democratic tendencies. Particularly regarding the generational gap, transdisciplinary approaches can open new ways to understand history as a dynamic space of experience, in which participation becomes a reflective and participatory process, thereby strengthening accountability and contextualization.
In parallel, a network meeting took place with actors from regional and nationwide memory initiatives. The focus was on exchange and collaboration on projects and resources, particularly where memory work is increasingly being transferred to digital spaces. The development of fictional digital projects made clear how crucial well-designed processes are to involve and engage young target groups. A tour through the “Offener Prozess“ exhibition and the workshop “re:member the future” provided insights into the documentation center’s communication approaches and showed how digital interventions in urban spaces commemorate those murdered by the NSU — in a city that has not established an official memorial site to this day.
The Dynamic Memory Lab presented a condensed version of the exhibition “Nước Đức” in the curatorial area of OFFENER PROZESS – A Documentation Center on the NSU Complex. A curator-led tour with Nina Reiprich and Dan Thy Nguyen illustrated how Vietnamese-German memory narratives unfold between flight, contract labor, experiences of violence, and self-empowerment—and how closely questions of digital memory, belonging, and social visibility are interwoven.
The festival underscored that memory culture in the digital age requires new forms of communication and structures of responsibility. Digital spaces can expand historical experiences but must not replace real encounters and physical sites. Memory remains — even in digital contexts — a societal task that demands continuous attention, adaptability, institutional responsibility, and public support.
Rostock | 20–21 September 2025
What happens when memories that have been separated for decades collide? When Vietnamese songs from the 1990s are played while stories of flight and contract labour are shared? The CPPD-Festival „Memory Matters“ Remembering in Conflict on 20 and 21 September in Rostock impressively demonstrated how a pluralistic memory culture brings together diverse communities and questions how we tell our German and European history. Two intensive days were spent discussing and listening – but also singing karaoke, dancing and eating phở prepared by contract workers during an interactive cooking show.
The highlight of the festival was the opening of the new Dynamic Memory Lab “Nước Đức. Vietnamese-German Migration Hi | Stories” by curators Dan Thy Nguyen and Nina Reiprich. The exhibition highlights memories and experiences of the Vietnamese-German community between flight and contract work, North and South Vietnam, East and West Germany. Stories that tell of racism and violence, but also of self-empowerment, solidarity, and artistic and social creativity. These stories are told by the artists and activists whose works are on display, who were present at the opening, and who combine personal experiences with political issues in their work. “They make it clear that memory is not just a retrospective, but a tool with which we can shape the present and the future”, say the curators. The opening was part of the decentralised heimaten festival organised by the Haus der Kulturen der Welt.
In workshops and panels, new bridges were built between generations and directions; trauma and anger were acknowledged, but spaces for self-empowering narratives were also opened up:
On the panel “Speechless in Nước Đức”, Nhi Le, Dan Thy Nguyen und Vu Thanh Van moderated by Vũ Vân Phạm, discussed the challenges of intergenerational memory and shared their experiences from different perspectives between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generations of Vietnamese-German migration, between East and West Germany, and between North and South Vietnam: What is shared, what is concealed – and why? The panellists emphasised the need to contradict external attributions, avoid biographical narrowing, and ask ourselves radically and confidently: What defines us? What tools do we have? And how do we overcome trauma and create connections between narratives?
Two workshops highlighted different local commemorative events and topics. The excursion with the documentation centre Lichtenhagen im Gedächtnis (Lichtenhagen in Memory) to memorial sites of the 1992 Rostock-Lichtenhagen pogrom, focusing on Romani perspectives. The exhibition “Lebenswege – vietnamesische Rostockerinnen erzählen” (Life Stories – Vietnamese Women in Rostock Tell Their Stories) with Diên Hông on experiences of racism and solidarity-based community building.
Following stops in Berlin and Halle, the networking meeting for actors involved in memory politics and culture continued to provide opportunities for concrete exchange and joint work. Under the theme of ‘Remembrance as Empowerment,’ participants discussed the formats, spaces, resources, and structures necessary for solidarity-based and sustainable remembrance work. They emphasised the urgent need for power-critical spaces and networks that enable long-term and solidarity-based cooperation.
At the end of the festival, visitors, including many first- and second-generation families from Rostock’s Vietnamese community, gathered at the DML for a very special cooking event and shared meal: How did Rostock’s Vietnamese community cook in the 1980s? The format was dedicated to precisely this question. Chef Thuy Nguyen Thi Bich from the KTV canteen cooked Vietnamese food with ingredients that were available in the GDR and shared memories of a cuisine that was a blend of tradition, improvisation and pragmatic adaptation.
Following the CPPD’s Dynamic Memory Labs on decolonisation and cultures of remembrance in Sinti and Roma communities, this third lab and the entire event emphatically demonstrate that temporary and modular spaces of remembrance are of enormous importance for our democratic society – especially now, when spaces for pluralistic remembrance are being pushed back by society. They create places for exchange, encounter, and understanding – and thus indispensable foundations for democratic coexistence.
The opening of the Dynamic Memory Lab Nước Đức is part of the decentralised heimaten festival. The heimatennetwork is an initiative of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt within the framework of heimaten, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media based on a resolution by the German Bundestag.
Fotos: © Natalia Reich, 2025
On October 8, 2025, the CPPD Festival “Memory Matters” will take place in cooperation with OFFENER PROZESS – A Documentation Center on the NSU Complex in Chemnitz, focusing on “Memory in Digital Spaces.”
Digitalisation opens up new possibilities for the culture of remembrance. Interviews with contemporary witnesses can serve as the basis for training large language models that can answer questions even after the survivors have passed away. Holograms enable seemingly authentic encounters with contemporary witnesses beyond their lifetime. Digital archives make historical documents accessible worldwide.
But technological innovations harbour considerable risks. When algorithms are trained on the basis of historical evidence, questions arise about authenticity and manipulation: Who controls what digital ‘contemporary witnesses’ say? How can distortions or even deliberate falsifications of history be prevented?
The tension between digital and physical memory is particularly problematic. Numerous events in Europe’s violent history still do not have appropriate memorial sites. At the same time, digitisation threatens to serve as a convenient excuse: why erect monuments or finance memorial sites when memory can also be staged virtually?
Previous experiences with digital memory spaces in virtual worlds such as Second Life or the Metaverse give cause for scepticism: without continuous maintenance and investment, they quickly degenerate into digital wastelands. Added to this is dependence on private-sector actors whose interests do not necessarily coincide with those of a responsible culture of remembrance. Recent developments at Meta and X show how quickly corporate strategies can change – sometimes at the expense of remembrance culture projects. Remembrance, however, requires consistency and reliability, qualities that private platforms cannot guarantee.
The central question is therefore: How can digital methods enrich the culture of remembrance without displacing or endangering it? And how can the integrity of historical evidence be preserved in an age of algorithmic reproducibility and corporate control?
Program
NETWORKING MEETING
10.00 am – 1.00 pm | Vermittlungsraum, OFFENER PROZESS – A Documentation Center on the NSU Complex
After the first stops in Halle and Rostock, we would like to use the networking meeting on October 8 in Chemnitz to create further spaces for concrete exchange and the continuation of our joint work. The focus will be on the challenges of remembrance work in digital spaces – and the development of proposals on how it can nevertheless succeed. The aim of the format is to network local, regional, and nationwide institutions, organizations, and actors from the field of remembrance politics and culture and to create synergies between topics, resources, and projects.
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WORKSHOP 1: Guided tour of the exhibition “Offener Prozess“
2.00 pm – 3.00 pm | OFFENER PROZESS – A Documentation Center on the NSU Complex
The tour will present the central theme of the exhibition. Participants will learn how the exhibition is structured and gain an overview of what is covered where in the exhibition. After a 45-minute tour of the exhibition, there will be a 15-minute discussion. This will provide an opportunity for questions and discussion.
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WORKSHOP 2: Introduction to the digital memorial site “re:member the future”
2.00 pm – 3.00 pm | OFFENER PROZESS – A Documentation Center on the NSU Complex | Meeting Point: Main entrance
re:member the future is an interactive intervention in the public space of the city of Chemnitz, because there is currently no official memorial site in the city for those murdered by the NSU. It serves to commemorate those murdered, injured, and survivors of NSU terror. It is a necessary work against the forgetting that is already occurring, reminding us not only of the lives that were extinguished, but also of the resistance and demands of the survivors in the face of a racist society.
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PANEL DISCUSSION
Entrance from 6.00 pm | Start 6.30 pm
Entrance, OFFENER PROZESS – A Documentation Center on the NSU Complex
Digitalisation opens up new possibilities for engaging with remembrance culture – from AI-supported eyewitness interviews to holographic encounters and globally accessible digital archives. At the same time, it raises new challenges. As this year’s European Capital of Culture, Chemnitz, is a city of contrasts – characterised by lively diversity and, at the same time, by the challenges of a violent past. The Offener Prozess – a documentation center on the NSU complex – embodies this engagement with local history and offers a special framework to discuss the future of remembrance culture while exploring digital methods without endangering the integrity or significance of physical places of remembrance.
Together with experts Dr Jonas Fegert, Nhi Le and Susanne Siegert, moderator Benjamin Fischer discusses how digital methods can transform the culture of remembrance. The discussion will address both opportunities – such as new approaches to historical experiences or innovative educational formats – and risks, such as questions of authenticity, manipulation or the use of private platforms.
The event ‘Practices of Remembrance in Digital Spaces’ is part of the 3rd CPPD Festival »Memory Matters« and is being realised with the Future 500 programme and in cooperation with Offener Prozess – a documentation center on the NSU complex.
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EXHIBITION: Dynamic Memory Lab – Erinnerungsbooth „Nước Đức. Vietnamesisch-Deutsche Migrationsgeschichte(n)“
From 6.00 pm | OFFENER PROZESS – A Documentation Center on the NSU Complex
The Dynamic Memory Lab ‘Nước Đức’ examines the history of Vietnamese-German migration and explores the question of how history is remembered and recounted – or suppressed and concealed. The exhibition focuses on the memories and experiences of the Vietnamese-German community, which have moved and intersected over several decades between flight and contract work, between North and South Vietnam and East and West Germany, between a history of violence and self-empowerment. We are showing a condensed version of the original exhibition, which opened in Rostock on 20 September.
Curated by Dan Thy Nguyen and Nina Reiprich, with contributions by Phuong Dan, KI Bui, Minh Duc Pham, Nhi Le and others.
On 20 September, the CPPD festival ‘Memory Matters’ will take place in Rostock. The highlight of the event will be the opening of the third Dynamic Memory Lab
»Nước Đức. Vietnamesisch-Deutsche Migrationsgeschichte(n)«.
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Following the first stop in Halle in June, we would like to continue creating spaces for concrete exchange and joint work with the networking meeting on 20 September in Rostock and continue our joint work. Our goal is to connect institutions, organisations and actors within the field of memory politics and culture, thereby creating synergies between topics, resources and projects. The networking meeting is part of the CPPD festival »MEMORY MATTERS«.
In 1992, racist attacks in Rostock-Lichtenhagen made history. But what remains? In cooperation with the documentation centre ‘Lichtenhagen im Gedächtnis’ (Lichtenhagen in Memory), this tour takes you to various historical and symbolic locations in the Hanseatic city that are connected to the 1992 pogrom in Lichtenhagen. Using the memorial ‘Gestern Heute Morgen’ (Yesterday Today Tomorrow) by the artist group Schaum, we examine the perspectives and actions of the historical actors, focusing on the perspectives of the affected Roma from Romania. We want to discuss how the pogrom could have happened and what consequences and effects the event has had to this day. We examine the current culture of remembrance and discuss what an appropriate social response to the event should look like.
After the racist riots in Lichtenhagen in 1992, the Vietnamese community living in Rostock decided to take their fate into their own hands and seek contact with the German residents of Rostock. In October 1992, they founded the association Diên Hông – Together Under One Roof e.V. After more than 30 years, the association has evolved and, since 1997, has been open to everyone – regardless of origin or background. Vietnamese culture continues to play a special role in this, alongside many other topics. In this exhibition, Vietnamese women from Rostock talk about their journeys to Germany, their work, families and everyday lives – then and now. Accompanying this, we talk to representatives of Dien Hong about memory, racism and community building. How does it feel to live between arriving and belonging?
The Dynamic Memory Lab is a dynamic space for remembrance. A participatory exhibition. A place of lived plurality. As a laboratory dedicated entirely to remembrance, it is dynamic, flexible, open and unfinished. It invites visitors to share, pause, discuss, rethink and reflect on what memory is and what society can be. The Dynamic Memory Lab Nước Đức focuses on Vietnamese-German migration history and explores the question of how history is remembered and told – or suppressed and concealed.
Das heimaten Netzwerk ist eine Initiative von Haus der Kulturen der Welt im Rahmen von heimaten, gefördert durch Der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien aufgrund eines Beschlusses des Deutschen Bundestags.
The DML ‘nước Đức’ will open on 20 September 2025 as part of the heimaten festival, accompanied by workshops, panel discussions and artistic interventions.
The Dynamic Memory Lab is a dynamic space for remembrance. A participatory exhibition. A place of lived plurality. As a laboratory dedicated entirely to remembrance, it is dynamic, flexible, open and unfinished. It invites visitors to share, pause, discuss, rethink and reflect. About what memory is and what society can be.
The Dynamic Memory Lab »Nước Đức« explores Vietnamese-German migration history and how we remember, narrate, suppress, and silence the past.
At the project’s heart are the memories and experiences of the Vietnamese-German community. These span decades and bear the marks of escape and contract labour, the divide between North and South Vietnam, East and West Germany, and histories of violence and self-empowerment. The Dynamic Memory Lab »Nước Đức« connects experiences that are rarely seen together, despite being deeply intertwined.
Together, these narratives form a memory landscape shaped by Cold War politics and the post-reunification era. Like a compass, this landscape reveals both ideological ruptures and biographical connections.
Curators Dan Thy Nguyen and Nina Reiprich bring to-gether contributions from artists and activists of the younger Vietnamese-German generation. They approach this history from multiple perspectives. Through artistic works, personal texts and interview excerpts, contributors trace the complexity of Vietnamese- German experiences, exposing contradictions, breaks and silences.
The opening of the Dynamic Memory Lab »Nước Đức« is part of the decentralised heimaten festival. The heimaten network is an initiative of the House of World Cultures within the framework of heimaten, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media based on a resolution by the German Bundestag.
The booklet for the Dynamic Memory Lab »Nước Đức«:
>> Download here
The CPPD provides microgrants for initiatives that engage with and advance pluralistic approaches to European cultures of remembrance.
Applications are now open for two types of grants:
Partnership Grant
Initiative Grant
How to apply?
Microgrants are available to CPPD members who actively engage in the CPPD network. Funding is provided for projects that address new and innovative approaches to European remembrance culture. Multilateral collaborations are particularly encouraged.
Applications will be assessed based on the following criteria:
Applications can be submitted until 3 August 2025.
June 12, 2025 | Halle (Saale)
An event in cooperation with TEKİEZ, Space for Remembrance and Solidarity
Anchoring the contemporary history of violence in Germany within the discourse of remembrance politics, as well as showing solidarity with and empowering people affected by violence and their relatives – especially in the context of increasing radicalization and the rise of extremist violence – is a central concern of the CPPD. The CPPD advocates for ensuring that people who have been targeted by violence, and their families, receive resources from the state while also experiencing greater support from civil society. This requires a rethinking of remembrance culture as a tangible resource.
The events of the »Memory Matters« festival took place at a site of critical importance for remembrance politics: TEKİEZ, Space for Remembrance and Solidarity. TEKİEZ is run by the Friedenskreis Halle. On October 9, 2019 – Yom Kippur 5780 – it was, alongside the synagogue on Magdeburger Straße in Halle and the small town of Wiedersdorf, the site of a racist, antisemitic, right-wing extremist, and antifeminist attack in which two people were murdered. Owners Ismet Tekin and Rifat Tekin are survivors of the attack. Thanks to them and the committed efforts of supporters, this location has become a space for solidarity-based remembrance.
The networking meeting during the »Memory Matters« festival brought together representatives from remembrance-political and cultural institutions, initiatives and activists, to explore the questions of how a pluralistic culture of remembrance can be shaped – one that centers the experiences of those targeted by violence; how remembrance culture can empower survivors, relatives, and affected communities; and which institutional structures are needed to sustainably anchor the perspectives of grassroots initiatives and actors.
The workshop “Continuities of Resistance,” led by artist Talya Feldman, examined the subversive potential of sound and listening as tools against hegemonic structures. Drawing from various auditory sources, participants analyzed and recontextualized repressed acoustic narratives. They developed their own sound-based forms of resistance and listening strategies as critical tools for emancipatory practice.
Following this, co-curator Max Czollek moderated a panel discussion titled “Remembering in Conflict” with survivors, relatives, and bereaved families of the right-wing terrorist attacks in Munich (2016), Halle (2019), and Hanau (2020), exploring their complex experiences in the aftermath of each attack.
In the discourse, Sibel Leyla, Said Etris Hashemi, Anastassia Pletoukhina, and İsmet Tekin vividly illustrated the full spectrum of ongoing failure by state structures – marked by a disturbing lack of accountability, ignorance, institutional racism, resistance to change, denial, and absence of meaningful investigation. They critically addressed the contradictory role of the media in reporting and explored both differences and parallels in public perception of various violent acts. The panel also highlighted the complex bureaucratic hurdles faced by those affected, while emphasizing positive developments: widespread societal solidarity and the emergence of empowering communities.
There was a shared consensus on the goals: to develop a self-determined culture of remembrance, achieve comprehensive societal reckoning, and anchor both individual stories and the structural causes of right-wing violence in collective memory. Said Etris Hashemi emphasized that the foundation for this lies in reclaiming agency and the will of those affected to shape their own narratives. Concrete examples of this empowerment include the Festival of Resilience, the participatory development of memorial sites, and the creation of self-designed educational concepts.
İsmet Tekin captured it concisely: “Solidarity is the greatest strength.” He issued an urgent appeal to German civil society: “We are fighting for a history that concerns us all. We need you!” Anastassia Pletoukhina underscored the importance of sharing personal stories as “the core of remembrance work, which is hardly taken up institutionally,” and a way to foster empathy. “We don’t want to cede the stage, but instead combine our forces – because the loneliness produced by this is unbearable for those affected. When we speak of solidarity, we mean both solidarity with civil society and among ourselves.” As the panel concluded, a central demand emerged: beyond unconditional assumption of responsibility, critical engagement, and investigation by politics and authorities, relatives must be equally included in all processes.
The discussion underscored the pivotal role of civil society’s solidarity as the foundation of a pluralistic culture of remembrance in Germany. Crucial to expanding the scope of action for remembrance initiatives and political actors is reliable financial support—a prerequisite for a self-determined and impactful pluralistic remembrance practice.
Fotos: © Elena Kasnokutskaya, 2025
Following its first opening in March in Berlin, the Dynamic Memory Lab exhibition “Cycles of Decolonisation” will next be presented at the Goethe-Institut Madrid on 18 June 2025, as part of the third Deconfining conference “Towards pluralistic voices – On funding systems and the work on archives in European-African cultural relations”
“Cycles of Decolonisation” will be officially opened in the presence of its co-curator, Dr. Cátia Severino. As part of the opening, artists from new artistic residencies – developed in collaboration with Spanish cultural research centres—will present their works within the framework of the Dynamic Memory Lab, contributing contemporary perspectives to the shared process of rethinking memory and coloniality.
As part of the conference programme, Max Czollek, co-curator of the CPPD, will be presenting the CPPD as an intercultural European initiative that engages with artistic, civil society, and educational approaches to pluralistic remembrance.
About the third deconfining conference “Towards Pluralistic Voices – On Funding Systems and the Work on Archives in European-African Cultural Relations”
Culture, as a form of collective expression and shared memory, holds the power to reconnect communities with often neglected or misrepresented historical narratives. Fostering meaningful dialogue demands diverse voices and multidimensional perspectives. These guiding principles shape the 3rd Deconfining Conference, which explores the political nuances of deconfinement in African-European cultural relations, with a focus on funding systems, archival practices, and memory work.
For further information and the programme, please visit the deconfining and Goethe-Institut Madrid website.
Programme
The event will take place at the Goethe-Institut Madrid (C. de Zurbarán 21, Chamberí, 28010 Madrid, Spain).
Online participation: Link Zoom (Meeting ID: 847 6701 9476 / Passcode: k.5yxN)
Please note that the event will be held in English, Spanish, and French.
On June 12, 2025, the »MEMORY MATTERS« Festival “Remembering in Conflict” will take place in Halle (Saale) in cooperation with the TEKİEZ, “Space for Remembrance and Solidarity”.
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The festival begins with our networking meeting. From 11 am to 3 pm, we would like to explore together how a plural culture of remembrance can be shaped so that the experiences of those targeted by violence are brought to the forefront. We aim to connect institutions, initiatives, and actors within the field of remembrance culture and politics and to create synergies between topics, resources, and projects.
Based on the convictions of CPPD, we believe that it is possible to rethink remembrance culture – not only as a diverse form of collective memory. A plural culture of remembrance includes a concept of strengthening and supporting people who have been targets of violence – not in the abstract, but in concrete ways that respond to their needs. Together with you, we want to reflect in working groups on what such support and empowerment can look like, and what each of us can contribute.
The two topics for the group work are:
Remembrance as empowerment
How can a culture of remembrance strengthen survivors, relatives, and affected communities instead of retraumatizing them?
Structures and responsibility
What institutional structures are needed to sustainably anchor the perspectives of initiatives and actors?
Continuities of Resistance: The Power of Sound and Listening
The workshop by Talya Feldman explores the profound political dimensions of sound and listening from 4 to 5:30 pm. Through samples of city soundscapes, instrumentals, interviews, speeches, and musical recordings, this workshop will examine the ways sound and listening can be used as political tools for overcoming structures of power. More specifically, we will be looking at examples of audio and voice, from Black Lives Matter to Act Up in the United States to Microphone Mafia in NRW, sounds of resistance that are all too often excluded from historical discourse and archive, but offer powerful, alternative narratives to today’s society. Participants will be encouraged to build their own sonic archives and form strategies of sound and listening within their own practices.
Talya Feldman is a media and sound artist whose interdisciplinary work uniquely combines cultural work, education, and political engagement. More information about Talya Feldman can be found here: https://www.talyafeldman.net/
At our panel discussion “REMEMBERING IN CONFLICT”, starting at 7 pm, we will speak with survivors and relatives of the far-right terrorist attacks in Munich (2016), Halle (2019), and Hanau (2020).
Panelists: Anastassia Pletoukhina, Sibel Leyla, Said Etris Hashemi, and İsmet Tekin | Moderation: Jo Frank
The panel aims to make the complex experiences of our guests visible and to open a space for listening, reflection, and collective shaping.
All three events will take place on 12 June 2025 at TEKİEZ, “Space for Remembrance and Solidarity”, Ludwig-Wucherer-Straße 12, 06108 Halle (Saale).
Admission is free.
Participation is only possible with registration by 6 June 2025.
Please understand that capacity is limited. By registering for the events, you agree to the Code of Conduct (in German).
Please note: The entire event will be held in German.
It is of crucial importance to address the legacy of European colonialism. This requires socially effective strategies aimed at long-term decolonisation. Artistic and participatory approaches and measures can help shape these processes in order to promote a resilient culture of remembrance.
On 15 March 2025, the Dynamic Memory Lab »Cycles of Decolonisation« was opened by its curators Cátia Severino and André Soares.
The interactive exhibition confronts visitors with the legacy of European colonialism and its contemporary manifestations. Courier drivers served as an analogy in order to show how contemporary economic systems reproduce colonial dynamics. Artistic positions by Clara Laila Abid Alsstar, Muhammet Ali Baş, Ibou Diop, Eşim Karakuyu, Cássio Markowski, Dan Thy Nguyen, Jonas Weber-Herrera and other artists from the CPPD network highlight key elements of colonisation such as racialisation, silencing and erasure, dehumanisation and violence, denied memory and displacement. In their opening speeches, the curators contextualised the exhibition’s content while Dr Ibou Diop connected the exhibition to the work of civil society actors.
The Network Meeting on 15 March 2025 was part of the European Congress and brought together various actors from Germany and Europe who are active in the field of remembrance. A resource mapping exercise showed the need for networking and initiated synergies between the participants. Participants also discussed the challenges and opportunities of building a resilient culture of remembrance.
On 14 March 2025, the event „…The Times they are A-Changing’“ held at the Studio Я of the Maxim Gorki Theatre, was dedicated to the European turning point and discussed ways of resistance. Noa K. Ha spoke about the ethical dimension of remembrance culture and the need to establish a fundamental relationship between remembrance culture and resistance. Gilda Sahebi underlined the importance to not forget the majority groups in society when discussing the culture of remembrance. Cátia Severino emphasized the crucial link between remembrance culture and remembrance work. This work has not ceased or failed albeit the strengthening of the right-wing backlash in Europe, but needs to be further developed. The panel was moderated by Max Czollek. Keynotes by Johanna Korneli and Jo Frank and artistic contributions by Ricardo Domeneck and Zselyke Z. Tárnai framed the event.
The event opened the European Congress of the CPPD and was organised in cooperation with the Maxim Gorki Theatre.
The Plural Remembrance Calendar is now also available in poster format. Please note: The poster is in German language only.
The Dynamic Memory Lab »Cycles of Decolonisation« invites its visitors to engage with a central topic of our remembrance culture: European colonial history and decolonisation.
In an immersive as well as interactive exhibition, visitors will be confronted with the legacy of European colonialism and its contemporary manifestations. The exhibition places a special focus on the structures of dehumanisation that remain effective in the present. The exhibitions seeks to dismantle the invisibility associated with dehumanisation and places the human aspect at the centre of our attention.
»Cycles of Decolonisation« was developed under the curation of Cátia Severino and André Soares, with contributions by European artists, activists and academics of the CPPD. The curators direct our gaze to the continuities of European colonialism. Using the example of Food Delivery Riders, they show us the contemporary manifestations in which the legacy of European colonialism persists in the present.
»Cycles of Decolonisation« lets the visitors hear for themselves from Food Delivery Riders how their daily lives are determined, the burdens they have to bear, and the hopes they hold. By directing our gaze to an example of lasting exploitation dynamics, the exhibition opens up a space in which the visitors can reflect on their own social status and painful memories. In doing so, they are able to recognise that colonialism is not simply a historical event, but instead a continuing structure of inequalities and hierarchies within European societies.
»Cycles of Decolonisation« illustrates how contemporary economic systems can repeat colonial dynamics, even without the direct violence and territorial occupation associated with historical colonisation.
With contributions from Clara Laila Abid Alsstar, Muhammet Ali Baş, Dekoloniale. Erinnerungskultur in der Stadt, Ibou Diop, Jonas Weber-Herrera, Eşim Karakuyu, Cássio Markowski, Dan Thy Nguyen, the next now, Silentfilm, film.bau.berlin and more artists from the CPPD network.
Please find further information on the Dynamic Memory Lab »Cycles of Decolonisation« and its opening times here.
In 2022, Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor at the time, called for a “turning point” after the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. What he meant, most of all, was one thing: the establishment of a 100 million EUR special fund for the German Bundeswehr and its anchoring within the German constitution. What has happened, however, in Germany and in Europe since then, is not only a new militarisation of politics and discourse – most recently fueled by the demand of the US President for an increase of the NATO defence spending to 5% of the national budget by all member states – but also a turning point of a completely different kind.
The turning point is the consent of an exhausted European society to a rapid backlash. For quite some time, we have persuaded ourselves of the harmlessness through the use of terms like normalisation and, in doing so, failed to see what was coming: antisemitism, racism, misogyny and queerphobia, the obedience to authority, and a contempt for democracy have not only been normalised, they have now become an expression of the will of the people.
The Afd in Germany, the Rassemblement National in France, the Fratelli d’Italia in Italy, the Partij voor de Vrijheid in the Netherlands, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość in Poland, Chega! in Portugal, Vox in Spain, Fidesz in Hungary – they all stand within the European political party system for a turning point that has long-since taken place. In their respective countries and in the European parliament, they live out their fantasies of homogeneity and have long-since become a democratic depiction of the vision of a new anti-European Europe. They are all part of a backlash, a rapid societal development that undoes the hard-earned societal progress. While just a few years ago, large parts of the European civic society seemed to be in agreement that the future of our European society must be shaped by plurality, diversity, inclusivity, by participation and liberalism, this vision has fallen victim to the current turning point. In doing so, the resulting societal polarisation is less a struggle between the left and the right, but rather a detailed erosion of solidarity among a wide variety of societal players.
Remembrance culture and the politics of remembrance are inseparably connected to this turning point of societal backlash. Societal learning is intended to be made possible by the remembrance of historical failures of humanity, of destruction, war, and suffering. This is always done with the clear goal of organising the present in such a manner that history cannot repeat itself. Remembrance should thus be a method of practicing humanity, justice, and solidarity. This is the societal function of remembrance, at least when one takes the oft-repeated slogan “never again” literally. The fact that reality is increasingly approaching a point of “again and again” raises the question of what actually remains from this promise made in recent years. This is also a question of survival for groups that are discriminated against in society.
What results from this crisis of trust in remembrance culture, which is also a crisis of remembrance culture itself to prevent the repetition of violent history: the turning point of the societal backlash must follow a new remembrance culture of resistant civil society. A remembrance culture that will be the expression of a will to shape, even if it means opposing an increasingly authoritarian political sphere, if necessary. Humanity, justice, solidarity: these are not the goals of societal consensus; instead, they are the cornerstones of a new resistance. We are organising this resistance of plural democracy also with the tools of remembrance culture.
On March 14, 2025, the Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse will dedicate itself to the European turning point of the backlash and discuss new paths for a remembrance culture of resistance in Studio Я.
A cooperation of the Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse (CPPD) with the Maxim Gorki Theater.
Participants: Max Czollek, Cátia Severino, Noa. K. Ha, Gilda Sahebi, Jo Frank, Johanna Korneli and others.
More information here
European Congress 2025
After the federal election and in light of the developments in recent months in Germany and Europe, we are facing new questions – at the center of which is this one: What is needed for a resilient, pluralistic culture of remembrance? That is the question for our joint work. The network activities of the CPPD will provide crucial impulses in this regard. Now more than ever, it is essential to know and experience that in Germany and Europe, many actors are working together on the plural “we” of our society. Therefore, special attention will be given to exchange, joint reflection, planning, and collaboration within the framework of the network meeting.
We would like to invite our Network Members to the Network Meeting as part of the CPPD European Congress:
Saturday, 15 March 2025
11 am – 3 pm
Villa Elisabeth, Berlin
In addition to our established exchange, we will create a resource mapping to share various resources, amplifying our impact, leveraging synergies, and potentially saving costs.
Learn more about the event and register here.
This year, we are all facing challenges that directly affect memory culture. The electoral successes and growing strength of far-right and fascist forces in Europe, Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine, the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, and the ongoing and expanding war in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, the shifting global dynamics towards autocracy and misanthropy, which were recently made visible through the reelection of a convicted criminal as President of the United States.
Under the weight of these and so many other events, we experience daily how civil society alliances are breaking apart—due to a lack of solidarity, active de-solidarization, and a lack of empathy. Marginalized groups are pitted against each other—and end up playing each other off. At a critical juncture, the shared visions for our plural society and a solidaristic Europe are significantly weakened—and the fantasies of homogeneity promoted by far-right forces and their idea of struggle as a central element of politics are strengthened.
The Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse (CPPD) and its partners are an exception in this regard. At a time when we are fighting to preserve spaces, the CPPD is expanding its spaces even further. In the face of collapse, we focus on collaboration. One significant change in the past year concerning our collaborative, plural, and dialogue-based approaches has been the intensification of our commitment, particularly as so many gaps in civil society and discourse have become visible or have opened up deeper and wider. Because that is our work: doing our utmost to prevent the anti-democratic and nationalist forces from doing what they wish and openly promise: the abolition of plural democracy.
As plural as our societies are, as plural are the moments of memory, and so plural remembrance culture must be shaped. Only when we understand the past as a complex web of memories we are able to do justice to it. And by doing so, we also live up to the present, which today is more threatened than at the beginning of our work by a return to traditions of violence. Plurality means, especially for German and European memory culture, continually becoming aware of and confronting this simultaneity and sometimes even ambivalence. Especially when we understand how much we are always remembering the past within the present—its conflicts, struggles, and social negotiation processes.
This simultaneity is also embodied in the Pluralistic Remembrance Calendar #Erinnerungsfutur. It brings together contributions from members of the CPPD network and guest authors, who reflect on various remembrance days in journalistic texts, scientific papers, interviews, and creative formats, expanding the cultural canon of remembrance. The fact that the calendar is now in its third and expanded edition demonstrates the breadth of memory-relevant topics at the intersections of antisemitism, ableism, racism, queer- and misanthropy, as well as resistance history and official memorial days.
The Pluralistic Remembrance Calendar demonstrates something very clearly: Memory culture must be shaped by the people of Europe, not by an idea of how those people should be. Plurality is not the central problem of society but its foundation. We firmly believe that this must also apply to remembrance culture: that we tell about remembrance collectively, not alone, because we have together shaped—and been shaped by—what we now call the present.
The CPPD, like this remembrance calendar, is a field of experimentation. The results we achieve, the insights we gain, are like memory itself: incomplete, unfinished, in constant processes of change. Therefore, the third edition of Erinnerungsfutur also asks all readers to suggest additional memorial days and moments of memory, so that the calendar can be supplemented and continued together, because: A resilient democracy cannot exist without a plural memory culture.
If you would you like to receive a remembrance calendar in German, we will gladly send you a copy, starting in January 2025. Orders can be placed via the form below. Donations are very much appreciated.
The English edition will be available soon.
The CPPD and its network members call for strengthening and sustainably securing their work toward a democratic, pluralist culture of remembrance.
Plurality remains the structural principle of our societies—despite the rise of the far-right and fascist AfD in Germany, the electoral successes of right-wing and far-right forces across Europe, and ongoing wars and violent conflicts in Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon. The CPPD creates unique spaces for plurality through its activities and event formats, allowing for dialogue and fostering concrete action.
To do justice to the plurality of our societies, resources, and spaces are needed to enable thematic exchange and spaces that publicly highlight the complexities and contradictions of various perspectives. These spaces are challenging and emerge only through a commitment to plurality. They can help contextualize the interconnections between present actions and the future of our societies, reduce polarization, and promote democracy.
As a unique collaborative network with over 200 partners, the CPPD develops artistic, civil society, and educational concepts for a pluralistic culture of remembrance. These include activities from the “Memory Matters” festival series, which took place across six locations in Germany and Europe and concluded in Berlin on October 18 and 19, 2024.
During the public event “What Next? – Remembering the Present: February 24, October 7, and June 9,” organized in cooperation with the Academy of Arts, more than 150 interested individuals from civil society, as well as professionals from the field of remembrance policy, joined CPPD network members. Three panels highlighted the diverse aspects, the simultaneities and interconnections of wars, right-wing violence, and the significance of pluralistic cultures of remembrance.
Journalist Olesya Yaremchuk, Marina Chernivsky (Executive Director of OFEK e.V.), and Igor Mitchnik (activist and Executive Director of Austausch e.V.) addressed the devastating impacts of Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine with a human-centered approach: What are the effects of the war on those affected and their families? How does it influence democracies in Europe? What is the way forward in terms of the remembrance policy?
Dinah Riese, journalist and section editor at taz, discussed the war in Israel and Gaza with Hanna Veiler, President of the Jewish Student Union of Germany, and Ahmad Dakhnous, activist and political advisor, examining its significance for Germany and Europe, and the role a pluralist culture of remembrance could play. This controversial and emotionally charged panel created space for plural perspectives and demonstrated how respectful engagement with diverse positions can be achieved.
Peggy Piesche, head of the “Political Education and Plural Democracy” division at the Federal Agency for Civic Education, and Kristina Lunz, co-founder of the Center for Feminist Foreign Policy, spoke about this year’s European elections and the consequences of polarization for Germany and Europe. They outlined actionable steps and the role of empathy, collective memory, and collaboration in shaping our democracies. Diplomat Anja Fahlenkamp underscored the need to understand intersectionality as a critical concept for addressing present-day challenges.
Over two days, the closing festival “Memory Matters” brought together actors in remembrance and educational policy from various institutions, organizations, and initiatives, along with members of the CPPD network for the CPPD’s network partner meeting. In two working sessions, participants addressed remembrance-specific topics and developed foundations for innovative memory policy measures to promote diversity, inclusion, and historical accuracy. The network partner meeting, a unique space for exchange among civil society organizations, was supported by the expertise of Vatan Ukaj and Alexandra Perlowa from the “Wertansich(t)” collective.
Despite the acute crises, our societies possess an inherent potential for shaping the future – as demonstrated by the CPPD’s “Memory Matters” closing festival. For this, spaces must be created, strengthened, and sustainably secured in which pluralistic discourse on remembrance culture is possible.
We thank all participants and civil society actors and look forward to continuing our work in 2025.
In 2024, the CPPD realized the decentralized festival series »Memory Matters« in St. Pölten, Nuremberg, Neumünster, Dortmund, Dresden, Madrid, and Berlin. This framework featured events that included workshops, artistic positions, and discussions that dealt with diverse topics of a pluralistic culture of remembrance. The video documentation shows impressions from the work of the CPPD, the festival series, and the European congresses.
Our heartfelt thanks go to Ibrahim Arslan, Muhammet Ali Bas, Max Czollek, Aladin El-Mafaalani, Noa K. Ha, Kelly Laubinger, Nina Prader, Martin Reichardt and Hannan Salamat for their contributions. Special thanks to Andreas Daniel Jakob for the video production.
September, 30 & October, 1 2024
Negotiating a shared European memory culture opens new perspectives in national discourses on memory politics. This is a crucial finding from Madrid’s cultural encounter “Memorias | Memories”. Considering the democratic crisis in Europe, one key to strengthening Europe lies in the question of who we are as Europeans and who we want to be. A joint pluralization of memory culture can significantly promote cohesion and democracy.
Since 2021, the Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse (CPPD) has worked as a collaborative network with over 200 partners on artistic, civil society, and educational policy concepts for pluralistic remembrance in Germany and Europe. A central component of this work is the »Memory Matters« festival series, which in 2024 took place in four German and two European cities, including the European Congress in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Madrid and the Instituto Cervantes.
Sociologist Emilio Silva Barrera, founder of the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH), and Dr. Max Czollek, author and curator of the CPPD, discussed promoting political actions incorporating diverse perspectives into official memory discourses. Czollek referred to German memory politics, which tells a one-dimensional reparation narrative. At the same time, Silva emphasized that the need to address both the Franco dictatorship and the Civil War is growing in Spain. Both called on civil society’s strength to resist political realities and violence. Loreto Urraca, the Spanish representative of the collective “Disobedient Stories, Descendants of Perpetrators of Genocide for Memory, Truth, and Justice,” illustrated how people can be politically engaged in memory beyond academic discourse by centering their personal family history in their activism. Noa K. Ha drew the attention of a large audience to the postcolonial perception of public urban space.
With Tunay Önder, Julia Cortegana de la Fuente, Victorino Mayoral Cortés, and Jo Frank, four educational and cultural initiatives representatives presented various projects to promote a pluralistic memory culture. Whether through documentary theater, political education projects, public digital memory archives, or solidarity networks for plural memory culture – all advocated for expanding European networking. Global conflicts further underscored the need for European cohesion: the war in the Middle East, with its enormous implications for memory politics, also influenced the discussions on-site.
Another highlight of the festival was the Dynamic Memory Lab’s opening in the Goethe-Institut garden. CPPD board member Hannan Salamat, Kelly Laubinger, founder of the Sinti Union Schleswig-Holstein, as well as regional curator and the first representative of the Gitanos community in the Madrid regional government, Gitano activist Samuel Escudero, advocated for greater visibility of marginalized communities like the Spanish Sinti* and Roma* in public spaces across Europe by emphasizing the dissemination and recognition of individual stories and historical events.
International dialogue formats are of crucial importance for shaping a pluralistic European future. They enable learning from one another, identifying common challenges, and providing new impulses for European memory culture. The various events in Madrid were part of the CPPD’s “Memory Matters” festival series, which in 2024 included events, workshops, artistic positions, and discussions in four German and two European cities.
The closing festival 2024, titled “Where do we go from here? Remembering the Present: February 24, October 7 & June 9,” will take place on October 19 at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. Please note: The event will be held in German.
Click here to register!
On 7 October 2024, the Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse (CPPD) and RomaTrial e.V. hosted a special event entitled ‘Remembering the Present: A Night of Mourning. Reflections on Memory and Loss’.
On the occasion of the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas in Israel on 7 October 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza, the event focused on the complex and ambivalent topic of mourning.
Throughout the event, mourning was examined in its complexity and multidimensionality. It was characterized by unique tensions as a cultural phenomenon that shapes collective memory, remembrance, and identities and as an individual, profound emotion.
Four moderated discussions took place with Shai Hoffmann and Ahmad Dakhnous, Furkan Yüksel and Samuel Stern, Atalya Laufer, and Ariel Reichman, and Hadja Harouna-Oelker and Max Czollek. They focused on the cultural, psychological, and social aspects of mourning. Additionally, its effects on society and the individual were discussed: Is the right to grieve the same for everyone? How do we address the inequalities of grief?
The event was sold out and took place at Grüner Salon/Volksbühne. The event created a space for a constructive exchange that addressed the complex issues surrounding mourning and 7 October 2023. In this way, a form of remembrance was strengthened, involving confrontation with violence.
Photocredit: Natalia Reich
September 22 and 30, 2024
A key challenge of our time lies in establishing successful resistance practices and building resilience against right-wing populist and far-right movements. A pluralistic culture of remembrance can play a significant role in this process.
In the context of a rightward shift across Europe and considering the recent regional election results in Thuringia, Brandenburg, and Saxony, spaces of exchange and opportunities that promote participation are needed to establish a democratic and nuanced culture of remembrance.
Since 2021, the Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse (CPPD), a collaborative network of over 200+ partners, has been developing artistic, civil society, and educational-political concepts for a pluralistic remembrance. This includes the festival series “Memory Matters.”
Against the backdrop of the rise of anti-democratic movements across Germany—particularly in Dresden and Saxony over the past decade with Pegida and the so-called Monday demonstrations—the CPPD, together with „Faiths in Tune“ the Dresden Foreigners’ Council, and the Staatsschauspiel Dresden, presented new approaches to remembrance with the “Memory Matters” festival on September 22, 2024.
The event focused on the intersection of memory culture and resistance: What forms of resistance must memory culture be able to withstand? How can remembrance practices in East Germany also be understood as acts of resistance? What role can a resistant culture of remembrance play in the face of a Europe-wide right-wing backlash?
Author Anne Rabe highlighted the lack of engagement with GDR history, explicitly pointing to certain generations and their disorientation in a society with new values and options for action. Historian Sarah Grandke emphasized that the victims of the SED regime also need to be given a dignified space in society, which open discussions about personal experiences can support. Only in this way can the ongoing silence be broken. Similarly, in essays read by journalist Andrea Hanna Hünniger, resistance to reunification through silence was addressed. Multidirectional connections to the theme were drawn by Kelly Laubinger, Chairwoman of the Federal Association of Sinti and Roma, and Dan Thy Nguyen, director, actor, and essayist. They consistently stressed the importance of promoting a pluralistic culture of remembrance across Germany. CPPD member Anja Fahlenkamp moderated the event. Additionally, a participatory city tour through Dresden focused on issues of discrimination and asylum, and a workshop at the Dresden State Theater’s Monday Café for people with migration and refugee backgrounds allowed further exploration of resistances within memory practices.
Formats for exchange and spaces for participation are urgently needed for a reflective engagement with current political developments and the role of memory culture in these contexts. Such spaces will continue to be essential for further developing our local cultures of remembrance. The event in Dortmund was part of the CPPD’s “Memory Matters” festival series, which, in 2024, was held in four German and two European cities and included events, workshops, artistic positions, and discussions.
The final “Memory Matters” event will occur in Berlin on October 19, 2024, under the theme “Where do we go from here? Remembering the Present: February 24, October 7, and June 9.”
The project will be carried out by a network of civil society initiatives and cultural institutions in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, including (besides the CPPD) DialoguePerspectives. Discussing Religions and Worldviews and many other CPPD network partners such as Decolonize Berlin e.V., ausARTen, Each One Teach One (EOTO) e.V., Schauspielhaus Wien, Wertansich(t), fluctoplasma, Initiative 19. Februar Hanau, RomaTrial e.V., and many others.
The programme has many plans, including a discourse series (2025), which will bring together strategies of Heimat-isation with questions of plural remembrance work, as well as two festivals: the De-Berlinisierung Festival in March 2025 at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, and the dezentrale heimaten Festival, which will take place in collaboration with cooperation partners from all German-speaking countries over the course of September up until the German Federal Elections.
Further information on ‘heimaten’, the network, and the opening programme (13-15 September 2024) can be found here: heimaten. We look forward to the next four years of collaboration!
Taking a plural culture of remembrance seriously implies taking seriously the plurality of the places in which it is created and negotiated. Plural cultures of remembrance do not emerge at memorial sites, they emerge from how we live and work together – and in how we play together. They are negotiated in sites that mean something to a lot of people; these could be theatres, or even football stadiums. A plural remembrance culture means illuminating ambivalences, strengthening the work that takes place at and in relation to significant places, so that they might become sites of plural remembrance.
With ‘Memory Matters’, the Dietrich-Keuning-Haus, the Schauspiel Dortmund, the Nordstatliga, and the Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse highlighted new modes of remembrance: the focus of the Festival of Plural Remembrance Culture hovered at the junction between remembrance culture and football.
Dortmund, as a part of the Rhein-Ruhr metropolitan region once known primarily for coal and steel, is today, after many years of structural transformation, a university city with a vibrant cultural scene. It has also declared itself a ‘Football Capital’, and is home to Germany’s largest football stadium. More than 40% of the population has a ‘migration background’. Over the years, as these diverse communities have lived and worked together, vibrant sites of negotiation have emerged across community lines, and are now spearheading efforts for a plural culture of remembrance.
In Dortmund, as in some other German cities, football has the power to unite. Through the engagement of many fan initiatives over the years, football in Dortmund has become a meaningful site of socio-political discourse. In this, football clubs are operating within a remarkably tense arena: while, for example, the salaries of professional players are often seen as exorbitant and disconnected from any societal reality, both the players and the clubs themselves are increasingly serving as actors within the socio-political context. They use their influence to advance societal causes, including questions relating to remembrance policy. ‘Memory Matters’ addresses this tension and shows how the interplay between civil society engagement and economic players can make a substantial contribution to the promotion of a plural culture of remembrance.
PENTAGON Spezial
To kick off the festival, CPPD member Aladin El-Mafaalani brought together a panel of speakers and over 300 guests for PENTAGON Spezial, held in the Dietrich-Keuning-Haus. The panel consisted of social scientist and coordinator of the Nordstadtliga, Germany’s largest street football league, Mirza Demirović, journalist, moderator, actress and former football player Shary Reeves, and former football player, author, and founder of the educational initiative well:fair foundation Neven Subotić.
Together, they discussed the role that football can play in a plural culture of remembrance. What has football got to do with remembrance? What role does football play in the educational context? Can we entrust organised football with more responsibility? And what functions can football serve in the negotiation of belonging and identity? Mirza Demirović emphasised that remembrance policy work must pay more attention to rising nationalist tendencies within the football scene, which can serve as a litmus test for societal change. Moderator Aladin El-Mafaalani pointed out the links between financially powerful sponsors of clubs and to their often lacklustre efforts at addressing their own histories, taking the arms manufacturer Rheinmetall as a prominent example. Shary Reeves highlighted the importance of comprehensively addressing racism and discrimination within football, while Neven Subotić called upon us all to take the individual dimension of remembrance work more seriously and to make it more accessible.
Workshops
Three accompanying workshops addressed different target groups in relation to the topic of remembrance culture and football. The workshop ‘Football unites!? – The Question of Remembrance in Football’ brought together moderator and CPPD member Samuel Stern and education and pedagogical experts to discuss how discrimination, racism, antisemitism, and the tension of remembrance in football are dealt with.
A further workshop brought together young people between the ages of 15 and 27 to create performances using theatre methods. The two workshop leaders, Yulia Yanez Schmidt and Felix Scharr, used this approach to critically examine the role of artistic forms of expression within football, and how they can contribute to a plural culture of remembrance.
The third workshop, conducted in cooperation with the Nordstadtliga, supported girls between the ages of 8 and 15 who are all part of the ‘Nordstadtliga Queens’ and who represent a diversity of ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds. Educational experts from YouMo! and Shary Reeves used playful exercises to strengthen the participants’ social competencies, thus empowering them in their identities.
Spaces for communication will also be needed in the future for the further development of our local cultures of remembrance. The event in Dortmund was a part of the CPPD festival series ‘Memory Matters’, being held in 2024 in four German and two further European cities as a series of events, workshops, artistic positions, and discussions.
The CPPD is a programme of DialoguePerspectives e.V. | photo credits: ©Dominik Fehr
The culture of remembrance in Germany finds itself at a turning point. The sharing of thoughts and ideas between different communities represents an important pillar in the work for a plural culture of remembrance and a plural society. It is only together that we can try out future-oriented forms of remembrance grounded in solidarity.
Spaces of collaboration are indispensable for working on our society. In the development of a plural culture of remembrance, particular attention must be paid to the networking of communities and people affected by discrimination and human rights violations, by right-wing and antisemitic violence. Shared remembrance represents an opportunity for our democratic, plural society to strengthen appreciation and participation.
The Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse (CPPD) has since 2021 been developing artistic, civil society, and education policy concepts for pluralistic societal remembrance in collaboration with a network consisting of over 200 partners. These efforts include the festival series ‘Memory Matters’. In Neumünster, the festival was carried out in collaboration with the Sinti Union Schleswig-Holstein. Neumünster is an important location for ‘Memory Matters’, as the city bears its own history of excluding minorities, especially the Sinti* community. And it is precisely this community that is now working for a plural culture of remembrance in their city.
Is it even possible to engage in remembrance grounded in solidarity while preserving the unique aspects of community-specific remembrance? What role do memorial initiatives play in this solidarized remembrance work? How can a remembrance practice grounded in solidarity counter societal polarisation? Participants in the festival discussed these questions, with new insights won in the process. These discussions showed that the networking of diverse communities encourages each other in their remembrance work, thus strengthening remembrance as a function of a plural and democratic society.
Max Czollek, CPPD curator, emphasised that the shift to the right in Europe represents a stark challenge to the idea of a post-migrant society as a concept that could serve as a basis for societal cohesion. At the same time, new approaches to remembrance culture could help to develop a robust, plural society. Ibrahim Arslan, a survivor of the attacks in Mölln, highlighted the importance of the structural impulses given by memorial initiatives in the democratisation of the German remembrance landscape. Hanna Veiler, president of the Union of Jewish Students Germany (JSUD), made a plea for more empathy and awareness of solidarity in light of current crises, while Kelly Laubinger, chairwoman of the Sinti Union Schleswig-Holstein, spoke about how affected communities can draw strength from experiences of solidarity. The audience interrupted the panel discussion, moderated by Jo Frank, multiple times with spontaneous rounds of applause.
Spaces for communication will also be needed in the future for the further development of our local cultures of remembrance. The event in Neumünster was a part of the CPPD festival series ‘Memory Matters’, being held in 2024 in four German and two further European cities as a series of events, workshops, artistic positions, and discussions.
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As part of “Memory Matters: IMPORT/EXPORT – ERINNERN” in Nuremberg from 14th-16th June 2024, scientists, artists, journalists and activists from a wide range of communities took part in panels, workshops, performances and other formats in search of a new approach to hidden aspects of memory.
On Saturday, 15 June 2024, artist Nina Prader from the CPPD network invited participants to share personal and collective memories in the interactive game and workshop “MemoryGames”. By using designed card sets, the stories told by the workshop participants created a living archive that was used as a mediation tool to commemorate the Shoah and to raise awareness on issues of history, identity, positioning, flight, asylum, exile and migration.
On Sunday, 16 June 2024, democracy trainer and CPPD member Vatan Ukaj led the workshop “Encounters in plural memory”. In this workshop, remembrance work was approached by working with body and movement.
The panel “Languages of Remembrance | Languages of Forgetting” consisted of members of the CPPD network. Max Czollek, Sharon Dodua Otoo, Prof Dr Frederek Musall and Hannan Salamat took part in the discussion and examined different aspects of remembering. The event was moderated by Benjamin Fischer.
A special highlight of IMPORT/EXPORT: ERINNERN was the CPPD’s Dynamic Memory Lab. The exhibition “Codes of Memory in Sinti* and Roma* Communities”, curated by Hamze Bytyçi, has been updated and expanded to include regional perspectives on Roma* and Sinti*. The Dynamic Memory Lab and the exhibition were open to visitors in the foyer of the Schauspielhaus of the Nuremberg State Theatre until the end of June 2024.
The event was a cooperation between the Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse and the Nuremberg State Theatre.
On 1st and 2nd June 2024, the conference “Erinnerungsbedarf. Conference on Pluralistic Remembrance in Migration Societies” took place in St. Pölten in Austria. As the first European conference of the Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse (CPPD), this event took place in cooperation with Tangente St. Pölten – Festival for Contemporary Culture and the Institute for Jewish History Austria (INJOEST). Muhammet Ali Baş from the CPPD network curated the conference.
Scholars, artists and activists from a wide range of communities discussed questions of cultural and political remembrance in panels, workshops and other formats.
On the occasion of the conference, the Dynamic Memory Lab and its exhibition “Codes of Memory in Sinti* and Roma* Communities” were officially opened on the 1st of June on the Rathausplatz in St. Pölten. The exhibition, curated by Hamze Bytyçi, included regional perspectives on Roma* and Sinti* as well as Yenish people in Austria.
More than 40 actors involved in the heterogeneous field of remembrance work as well as members of the CPPD came together for a network meeting. They discussed different issues and needs on a European scale and defined goals and next steps for joint work. The network meeting was moderated by Vatan Ukaj.
In his keynote speech, CPPD curator Max Czollek presented remarks on the status quo of remembrance culture in Germany. In the panel discussion “Whose memory is missing? Who is fighting for visibility?”, Darija Davidovic discussed with Samuel Mago, Ayşe Güleç and Philipp Gufler about ways to create a democratic culture of remembrance.
On 2 June, artist Nina Prader held a zine workshop focusing on the function of zines as a tool for remembrance politics and community building. In a workshop on urban history and memory, architect Jan Bodenstein and postcolonial urban researcher Noa K. Ha introduced the participants to the importance and necessity of a pluralist memory architecture.
On the next panel, Eşim Karakuyu and Prof. Dr Frederek Musall, Derviş Hızarcı and Sheri Avraham discussed the complex challenges and polarisation in Germany and Austria after 7 October/the war in Gaza. The panel was moderated by Max Czollek.
Photocredit: Felix Kubitza
The CPPD network meeting »Memory Matters«
October 7, 2023 as the end of the plural culture of remembrance?’
took place on 2 May 2024.
The Hamas terror attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza were the starting point for the network meeting.
Phenomena visible in the discourse – e.g. uncertainty, pressure to take a position, fear, struggles for definitional power, waning solidarity, and polarisation – are all having an impact on the work and structures of the network. Given this backdrop, the meeting sought to reflect upon the work of the CPPD related to the current conflict and to create new perspectives on dealing with it and with each other going forward.
During the meeting, CPPD network members came together in discussion rounds held in parallel. Following an introductory stocktaking of the status quo, these discussions addressed the challenges facing the CPPD in dealing with 7 October and the war in Gaza. A further focus of the discussions was locating German and European cultures of remembrance and their diverse connections to the topic. In addition, participants discussed forms of solidarity that can counter the playing off of marginalised groups against one another. And lastly, the network meeting reflected upon the specific work of the CPPD: which measures could the CPPD turn to in the future based on the insights gained during the discussions?
The discussions between the members revealed their varying connections to the topic. Generally speaking, the meeting was taken as an opportunity for a realignment of the network’s joint efforts. The participants listed concrete measures and forms of voluntary obligation.
It once again became clear that personal, open discussions among the CPPD members are crucial: that a space could be created in which the members, with their divergent personal and professional perspectives, could speak with each other, learn from each other, and develop shared strategies together.
The CPPD was honored to be asked by the Topography of Terror Foundation to publish a text in their memorials newsletter on approaches and basic conditions of plural remembrance. The work of the CPPD should be presented and placed in the context of plural forms of remembrance.
The article may be reviewed on the website of the Memorial Forum and on our website under Publications.
The GedenkstättenRundbrief is a journal of the Memorials Department, a section of the Topography of Terror Foundation. The journal deals specifically with topics of activities of the memorials for victims of the NS-regime. It is published four times a year as a print edition and can be obtained by subscription. It publishes articles on current issues, reports on new memorials or special activities and projects of individual institutions. In addition, the newsletter contains a service section which refers to selected events as well as newly published literature.
The future of remembrance is pluralistic. When we think about a pluralistic future of remembrance in which the diversity of our society can participate in collective remembrance, we broaden our view of experiences and events that can and must be strengthened in social remembrance. The “we” of our society is also co-determined by our memories. The CPPD wants to understand this “we” in an inclusive, diverse and dynamic way. It is not about battles for attention or space in the remembrance calendar, but about unfolding our moments of remembrance – about enrichment, about acknowledging gaps, about looking and listening. Finally, we must recognize that political demands for remembrance can only be effective if we strengthen the function of remembrance in our societies – towards the vitalization of a promise that must not become a cliché: Never Again!
How a social and pluralistic narrative of the collective “we” is told has a special significance in this remembrance calendar #future of remembrance, because: Storytelling also plays a special role in the vitalization of memory. The second and expanded edition includes contributions from members of the CPPD network and guest authors who reflect on various days of remembrance in journalistic texts, academic essays and creative formats, expanding and diversifying the cultural canon of remembrance.
From questions of confrontation and negotiation at the interfaces of cultures of remembrance and anti-semitism, ableism, racism, queer hostility to the question of how we remember the present, the contributions are an example of the impressive breadth of topics relevant to remembrance.
The remembrance calendar is based on the understanding that there are no closed processes of remembrance. Memories know neither boundaries nor a center. In the second edition of the remembrance calendar, we have deliberately filled in the blanks from last year. But the same applies this year: we ask all readers to tell us about other days of remembrance so that we can add them to the calendar and continue writing it together. Only in its openness the calendar is able to remain plural and might make a successful contribution to a #FUTUREOFREMEMBRANCE.
It can be ordered free of charge via cppd@dialogperspektiven.de with the reference “Order of CPPD Remembrance Calendar 2024” and stating your private address (due to a small number of printed editions, we can only send 1 remembrance calendar per person). We would be pleased to receive a donation for our supporting association DialoguePerspectives e.V.
Mit Expert*innen aus Kunst, Kultur, Journalismus, Aktivismus und Politik realisierte die CPPD eine Gesprächsreihe, in denen die Expert*innen mit jeweils einem Mitglied aus dem CPPD-Netzwerk verschiedene Konfliktregionen und Erinnerungsmomente fokussierten. Entstanden sind sechs Kurzvideos, die sich konkret auf Länderbeispiele und Erinnerungsmomente beziehen und gleichermaßen explorativ auf die vielfältigen Fragen rund um das Erinnern von Gegenwart eingehen.
Der Journalist Christian Bangel geht im Gespräch mit Creative Director und Strategist Thao Tran rechten Kontinuitäten in Deutschland nach. Der Fotograf und Autor Muhammad Salah führt zusammen mit dem Politikwissenschaftler Benjamin Fischer unsere Blicke in den Sudan und zeigt dabei unsere Verantwortungen im Konflikt zwischen Nord und Süd auf.
Der Musiker, Autor und Moderator Yuriy Gurzhy spricht mit der Autorin und Journalistin Olesya Yaremchuk über die Ukraine, über das Leben und Sterben im Krieg; die Journalistin Waslat Hasrat-Nazimi richtet gemeinsam mit dem Religionswissenschaftler, Philosophen und Übersetzer Ahmad Milad Karimi den Fokus auf Afghanistan und die Auswirkungen der jahrzehntelang geführten Kriege für Gesellschaft und Individuen.
Tezcan Tekkal, Sozialunternehmerin und Mitgründerin der Menschenrechtsorganisation HÁWAR.help (link), spricht mit der Journalistin Dinah Riese über den Genozid an den Jesid*innen, über globale Aufmerksamkeit und die aktivistische Kraft Einzelner. Die Ärztin und Journalistin Gilda Sahebi redet mit Hannan über den Iran, über diasporische Wehrhaftigkeit, Hoffnungen und Befürchtungen. In Absprache mit Meron Mendel und Frederek Musall haben wir beschlossen, ein Gespräch nach dem 7. Oktober 2023 per Zoom zum Thema Israel aufzunehmen. »Gegenwart Erinnern« bedeutet also auch, von Gegenwart eingeholt, überrollt, überfordert zu werden.
Die Gesprächsreihe wurde ursprünglich für die Konferenz »Gegenwart erinnern« der CPPD im Oktober 2023 konzipiert.
