 |
Exhibition "Jews in Berlin" Opens
The exhibition of Berlin's Jews during the Holocaust period from 1938 to 1945 opened Monday in Berlin's new restored Synagogue.
Today is the 55th anniversary of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II. A new exhibition about Berlin's Jews will help German people to remember the painful lessons of the wars.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder made a speech at the opening ceremony of the exhibition: "The terrible legacy of Nazi barbarity, rather than repressed or forgotten, must be remembered and understood."
About the responsibility of the war, Schroeder said: "On May 8 we don't speak of a collective guilt of the German people, but we must speak of its responsibility... for humanity and tolerance and the responsibility for freedom."
The exhibition will be showed by filmed and taped oral histories of Holocaust survivors. And the exhibition will continue until August 20.
In September 1938 there were some 50 active synagogues in Berlin, but during the Night of Broken Glass on November 9, 1938 Nazis burned and destroyed most of them.
Nearly 80,000 of Berlin's Jews wanted to flee Germany before the Second World War in September 1939, more than 55,000 Berlin's Jews were killed by the Nazis during the wartime.
Schroeder stressed the importance of the exhibition by saying: "It is a particularly appropriate way to preserve the historical memory for those who have no personal recollection of it. As many school-children as possible should visit it."
Schroeder's appeal came just in time because, according to a new study by researchers of Cologne University, there are half of all Germans aged between 14 and 18 who know nothing about Auschwitz's concentration and extermination camp.
Scroeder also said that Germany will improve the relations with the Jews. The German government and industry are ready to begin compensation payments from a 10 billion mark (4.6 billion dollar) fund to former slave and forced laborers in Nazi-occupied Europe.
In This Section
|
