85 years ago, the National Socialists destroyed synagogues, shops and apartments. Jews were mistreated, murdered and expelled. How can this be remembered when there are fewer and fewer contemporary witnesses? Do digital media help?
Harry Raymon slowly walks along Kappelerstrasse in Kirchberg, Rhineland-Palatinate. The 97-year-old stops at four stumbling blocks embedded in the ground, wipes the small memorial plaques with a handkerchief and remains there for a few minutes. You can read the names of his parents, his brother and also his own. Harry Raymon’s family survived the Nazi terror because they left Germany in 1936 – to the USA.
Harry Raymon was nine years old at the time. His mother had a dark premonition, without knowing at the time what would soon threaten them. The hostility after the Nazis came to power increased quickly. “I think we were the first family in Kirchberg to leave. Not every Jew thought that they had to leave. Hitler was a ghost who would go away again. That was the general attitude.”
The decision to leave may have saved the lives of Harry Raymon’s family. After a few years in the USA, Raymon first went to France as an actor. He then returned to Germany via Stuttgart, where he has lived in Munich since the 1960s. The 97-year-old is often in the Hunsrück to remind people of the crimes of the National Socialists and the fate of Jews in Germany as a contemporary witness at events. This time he meets a group of students – together with a former history teacher who has been committed to researching Jewish culture in the Hunsrück for decades.
Harry Raymon regularly speaks to students about the crimes of the National Socialists.
More than 30 years Research work in the Hunsrück
In the neighboring community of Laufersweiler, Christof Pies unlocks the door of the former synagogue and walks through the ground floor. “This used to be the prayer room, the men sat downstairs, the women upstairs and the Torah was read out in front,” says Pies. The 77-year-old used to be a history teacher and helped set up a study center in the former synagogue. “In 1985 they wanted to simply demolish the building, which many people at the time just called the Thing,” remembers Pies. “But then the house was listed as a historical monument and we founded a support group at the end of the 1990s.”
The former synagogue in Laufersweiler is now a study center.
To this day, Pies continues to research the local history of rural Jewry in the Hunsrück region. In addition to remembering the Holocaust, he also wants to preserve the Jewish cultural treasures in the region. “In surveys, 90 percent think of the Holocaust, persecution and gassing when they hear the word Judaism. Unfortunately, that also corresponds to historical facts. But Jewish culture is so beautiful and diverse. We want to show that too.”
Interest in exhibitions has been growing for years, but anti-Semitism still exists in the Hunsrück. In the region, some Jewish cemeteries are desecrated. “This is of course a big concern for these communities. Everything has to be rebuilt and the gravestones repaired according to religious aspects and monument protection reasons. These are the problems – to this day.” Further research work will not be any easier in the future, says Pies. “In the past decades, many contemporary witnesses were still alive. Today, unfortunately, this is becoming more difficult.”
Christoph Pies has been researching Jewish history in the Hunsrück for years.
QR codes instead of memorial plaques
In nearby Kastellaun, Christoph Pies and Harry Raymon meet a group of students from the integrated comprehensive school. The former history teacher is also well known to them from several projects relating to Judaism. The students are very interested in the 97-year-old contemporary witness. “You hear a lot about that time in history class. But it’s something completely different when you have a person standing in front of you who experienced it all,” says Cava Rosenbach in the welcome. The past is suddenly very present.
Here in the city, the comprehensive school and Christof Pies have created a path of remembrance. With QR codes you can find out about Jewish history and anti-Semitism in Kastellaun via your smartphone. Pauline Scherer has a long conversation with Harry Raymon. “The most important thing is that this historical awareness that it happened and now to prevent it from happening again.”
“You can’t really imagine it.”
There are twelve stations with QR codes in Kastellaun. The cell phone allows young people to experience history differently. On their way, the group comes to a place where the synagogue once stood. Today a memorial commemorates the destruction caused by the Nazis. The students pull out their smartphones and quickly find out more about the former Jewish place of worship at this location. “You can’t really imagine it. And now knowing that it was here too, it’s a strange feeling,” says Jarne Härter after watching the animations on his cell phone.
Linn Jacobs is convinced of the new concept. “There are only a few of the younger generation who read the boards along the way. Everyone has a smartphone with them. They can scan it, read everything and then continue their education.”
Understand the past anew
97-year-old Harry Raymon has little use for the new technology, but even more so for the students. “I’m touched by the fact that young people are dealing with the issue of anti-Semitism and have a very clear opinion about it. That wasn’t always the case.”
Understanding the past anew with digital media: For Christof Pies, this is the remembrance work of the future, for a time when there will be no more contemporary witnesses. “School is the place to understand history and learn from it for the future. This applies to all of us – regardless of origin, religion or political opinion. If the school does not do this, then I see black for Germany.”
The tour in Kastellaun ends for the group at four stumbling blocks. The names of Heinrich Seligmann and the Löb family are engraved on it. They remained in the region at the time, but were deported and murdered in 1942. But Harry Raymon survived and still reminds younger people of the Holocaust to this day.