Who represented the Nazi regime in Kempten, who implemented National Socialist policies? Was there room for manoeuvre, how did clubs, bourgeois elites, individual decision-makers position themselves? Kempten now wants to tackle all of these questions, and together with the Institute for Contemporary History Munich-Berlin, the city is starting the scientific review of the Nazi era.
The project lasts two and a half years, and at the end there should be a book manuscript and a final report for the city council. Such an in-depth study of a medium-sized city has the character of a beacon in Bavaria, emphasizes the director of the Institute for Contemporary History, Andreas Wirsching. “Many other cities have not done anything in this area.”
There have also been major discussions in Kempten in recent years, triggered by a lecture by Martina Steber. The deputy director of the Institute for Contemporary History had asked the city to take a fresh look at its role in the Nazi era, which did not go down well with everyone.
With the signatures at the start of the research project, the scientific work-up begins
In the meantime, as head of the cultural department Martin Fink recalls, a lot has happened: the city has set up a commission for culture of remembrance, it has started a contemporary witness project, there are workshops for young people on the subject of “Kempten under National Socialism” and specially designed city tours. With the signatures at the start of the 300,000 euro research project on Wednesday, the trend-setting scientific work-up begins.
According to Steber, the focus is on three levels: the actions of local government, the societal level and looking at the victims of the Nazi era. “We still know very little in Kempten about the role of the city administration,” says the newly appointed professor of modern history at the University of Augsburg. When evaluating the sources, the focus should also be on top officials and top politicians of the time: For example, not only the past few years have sparked debates about the long-standing Mayor Otto Merkt – although he undoubtedly had a positive influence on the region, he was also a supporter of National Socialist ideas to racial hygiene.
The new research project will not produce simple answers, as demonstrated by multifaceted personalities such as Merkt. This applies equally to the role of local clubs and the bourgeois elite. A staff member of the institute who is to work on the project will also deal with the local NSDAP and other Nazi organizations such as the German Workers’ Front, which was active at the Allgäu industrial site. Finally, the city wants to understand the mechanisms of exclusion and persecution: who contributed to this, how did these mechanisms work?
Not all files of the municipal administration have survived in full
The research project is primarily designed to evaluate the sources available on the subject, in the city archive, in the state archive in Augsburg, in the main state archive and in the federal archive. Church sources or private archives as well as estates such as that of Otto Merkt also represent valuable testimonies. However, according to the city, the files of the city administration have not been completely preserved, which also applies to personnel files. Various complexes will therefore have to be documented little or only in fragments.
Martina Steber from the Institute for Contemporary History heads the project in Kempten.
(Photo: photoresque/Institute for Contemporary History)
“The aim of the research project is to provide a broad overview,” says historian Steber anyway. The sources will guide the researchers as to which highlights of the history of Kempten can be highlighted. “In the end, completely new questions will arise,” says Steber. “The history of National Socialism is not finished with the completion of the project.”
Kempten set out to raise public awareness of the issue
Kempten has come a long way, says Lord Mayor Thomas Kiechle, looking at the discussions of the past few years. “It’s not easy and it takes a bit of courage to look at a part of our history that you don’t like to look at.” However, the city has actively set out to raise awareness of the topic in urban society and the general public.
“How do we want to remember in the future what was unthinkable and yet happened?” asks Kiechle. The answer to this question offers the chance for politics and society to reorient themselves and find a basis for living together. The project is so important because looking into the past helps to recognize early on when you are moving in the wrong direction. “And unfortunately we now have these approaches again.”