22.03.2018

22.03.2018

„Remembering Second World War Technologies“ – Internationale Tagung am 22./23. März 2018 in Peenemünde

Am 22. und 23. März 2018 findet im Historisch-Technischen Museum Peenemünde die internationale Tagung „Remembering Second World War Technologies: Museums, Exhibitions, Technological Objects, and Visitors“ statt.

Veranstalter ist das Forschungsprojekt „Meta-Peenemünde“ an der Technischen Universität Braunschweig, welches in Kooperation mit dem HTM Peenemünde die Erinnerungsgeschichte des Ortes erforscht. Die Tagung „Remembering Second World War Technologies“ bringt Wissenschaftler und Mitarbeiter aus verschiedenen Museen und Gedenkstätten zusammen, die in ihren Ausstellungen Rüstungsprojekte und Waffentechnologien aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg behandeln und präsentieren. Ziel ist eine intensivere Zusammenarbeit und ein Austausch über Besuchererwartungen sowie gemeinsame Herausforderungen und Möglichkeiten in der Ausstellungspraxis. Die Konferenzsprache ist vorwiegend Englisch.

Tagungsprogramm: www.ifg-braunschweig.de/index.php?id=1739

Wenn Sie an der Tagung teilnehmen möchten, melden Sie sich bitte bis zum 16. März 2018 an: meta-peenemuende@tu-braunschweig.de


Kontakt Veranstalter:

Constanze Seifert-Hartz und Daniel Brandau

Forschungsprojekt: „Meta-Peenemünde: Das Bild der rüstungstechnischen Versuchsanstalten im kulturellen Gedächtnis“, gefördert von der VolkswagenStiftung

Technische Universität Braunschweig
Institut für Geschichtswissenschaft
Schleinitzstr. 13, D-38106 Braunschweig
E-Mail: meta-peenemuende@tu-braunschweig.de
Internet: www.ifg-braunschweig.de/metapeenemuende

 

Abstract
More than 70 years after the end of the Second World War, its innovations in military technology are still remembered with fascination and unease. Particular focal points of ambivalence have been the so-called ‚Wonder Weapons‘ and other resource-intensive developments of Nazi Germany such as the jet fighter Messerschmitt 262, the ‚Tiger‘ Panzer, or the A4 rocket (‚V-2‘). While the A4 was mass-produced at the concentration camp of Mittelbau-Dora and fired at Antwerp and London, it has also been considered a technological forerunner of both the nuclear missiles and space rockets of the Cold War era. Unease and ambivalence have often turned into discontent when these weapons were displayed in exhibitions and museums in Germany and abroad, arousing questions about how to contextualize these objects between feats of engineering and remembrance of their victims.

This conference, organized by the Research Group ‚Meta-Peenemünde‘ (Technische Universität Braunschweig) at the Historisch-Technisches Museum Peenemünde (Germany) on 22 and 23 March 2018, brings together scholars and representatives of museums and memorials that display Second World War technologies, particularly German weapons, in the US and Europe. Its goal is to enable discussions about local and international differences in the remembrance of wartime technologies, diverging cultures of memory, and visitor expectations, as well as the challenges and opportunities encountered when restoring, displaying, and contextualizing technological objects. Participants are invited to share their experiences and didactic approaches: Has popular fascination with technology been a chance or challenge? Has a ‚gender technology gap‘ influenced visitor expectations? How can we deal with or utilize claims of ‚authenticity‘? How influential is ‚technological nationalism‘ today? The workshop aims at fostering and intensifying international cooperation between museums and institutions.

 

If you wish to attend this conference, please register via email by Friday, 16 March 2018: meta-peenemuende@tu-braunschweig.de

For further information visit:
www.ifg-braunschweig.de/metapeenemuende
www.ifg-braunschweig.de/index.php?id=1739

 

Conference Program:
Remembering Second World War Technologies: Museums, Exhibitions, Technological Objects, and Visitors Peenemünde, 22. – 23. März 2018

 

Thursday, 22 March 2018

  • 10:00 Registration
  • 11:00 Welcome and Introduction: Philipp Aumann and Christian Kehrt
  • 11:30 Panel I: Exhibiting Peenemünde
    Chair: Philipp Aumann (Peenemünde)
    Daniel Bandau (Braunschweig): Technological heritage and remembrance in rural East Germany
    Constanze Seifert-Hartz (Braunschweig): What connects us? Visitor expectations in Peenemünde
  • 12:30 Lunch Break
  • 13:30 Museum Tour
  • 15:00 Coffee Break
  • 15:30 Panel II: Technology in War Museums – The War in Museums of Technology
    Chair: Christian Kehrt (Braunschweig)
    Jens Wehner (Dresden): Military Technology and Cultural History: Experiences at the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden
    Michael J. Neufeld (Washington, DC): Exhibiting the V-2: Struggles with History in the U.S. and Germany since 1984
    Heiko Triesch (Berlin): Present and Future: Air and Space Artifacts of World War II on Display at the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin
  • 17:00 End

 

Friday, 23 March 2018

  • 10:00 Panel III: Remembrance and Education at Historical Sites
    Chair: Constanze Seifert-Hartz (Braunschweig)
    Stefan Hördler (Nordhausen): Research and Education on Nazi Forced Labor and Crimes in the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp
    Laurent Thiery (La Coupole, Pas-de-Calais): Documentation Centre at La Coupole: Researching about 9 000 deportees of France in the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp
    Wiesław Jeleń (Blizna): Blizna: From missile testing ground to historical park
  • 11:30 Coffee Break
  • 12:00 Panel IV: Fascination with Technology as Chance and Challenge
    Chair: Daniel Brandau (Braunschweig)
    Ralf Raths (Munster): “Clenching the Fists of Dissent“: The Transformation of the German Tank Museum
    Marcus Meyer (Bremen): Technology Attraction, Dark Place or Memorial: The Bunker “Valentin” in Bremen-Farge
  • 13:00 Lunch Break
  • 13:30 Feature Presentation
    Chair: Christian Kehrt (Braunschweig)
    Hannah Fitsch (Berlin): Why technology fascination is not neutral: On gendered practices in museums of technology
  • 14:00 Panel Discussion
    Hannah Fitsch (Berlin) / Michael J. Neufeld (Washington, DC) / Christian Kehrt (Braunschweig)
  • 15:00 End