New board brings fresh impulses to Moer's culture of remembrance!

New board brings fresh impulses to Moer's culture of remembrance!

On July 16, 2025, the “Remembering for the Future” association elected a new board at its most recent general meeting, which will bring a breath of fresh air to the committed work of remembrance. With Sandra Punge at the helm as the new chairwoman, Saskia Elle as second chairwoman and Natalie Lapschies as secretary, it is now a matter of continuing to deal with the Nazi past in the old district of Moers. As cashier, Elisabeth Krokowski will ensure that the club's financial matters are in good hands. New to the board are the assessors Hildegard Hecker and Ursula Reinartz, together with the permanent assessors Stefan Otto-Bach and Ulrike Strobel, who support the association with their knowledge and experience.

The “Remember for the Future” association looks back on more than 30 years of commitment to a living culture of remembrance. He would like to thank the long-standing board members, including Ulrich Hecker, Lutz Hartmann, Brigitte Voigt and Maren Schmidt, whose work should not be forgotten. The new board members set clear goals through numerous planned activities: commemorative events, excursions, publications and cooperation projects with schools and other educational institutions are intended to involve young people more closely in the discourse.

Memory work in transition

The culture of remembrance in Germany has changed enormously since the post-war period. After the Second World War, national discourse was dominated for a long time by a culture of repression in which one's own crimes were hardly discussed. While the GDR denied its responsibility for the Nazi crimes, the student movement of the 1960s broke the silence of post-war societies. This movement called for a serious confrontation with the past and the crimes associated with it. Today, coming to terms with it is firmly anchored as part of German reasons of state, and schools have developed into important places for dealing with the Nazi past, as the EVZ Foundation emphasizes.

Elements of these cultures are diverse and include texts, images, memorials, as well as rituals and commemorative events. An example of this development are the over 50,000 stumbling blocks that were laid in Europe in memory of the Nazi victims. They enable individual and yet collective commemoration of the terrible acts of National Socialism. It is becoming increasingly clear that dealing with this history is not only necessary, but also a central component of identity formation and a critical examination of state crimes.

Commitment to the future

The club's new board now wants to become even more active and plans to strengthen the club's internal structures. This includes more intensive contact with members, maintenance of the homepage and increased use of social media in order to address younger generations and include them in remembrance work. These measures are important not only to bring the experience of history to a wider public, but also to ensure that the suffering and crimes of the past are not forgotten. The association wants to specifically address the dangers of forgotten memory and institutional racism.

The question arises: What should not be forgotten? The new board in Moers is dealing intensively with this challenge and is making a valuable contribution to a lively culture of remembrance through planned actions and activities.