On|Outlooks 12/2024

The event to mark the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo marked the end of the 2024 event year for us [1] . In a well-attended Fritz Bauer Library, Rima Ideguchi read passages from the eyewitness account of her grandfather Shigemi Ideguchi, who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. In his book, which was published in German in 2015 , Ideguchi describes the destructive power of the atomic bomb, the resulting devastation and the horrific injuries suffered by the survivors. He describes the radiation of his own body, hair loss and burns and the stigma attached to the survivors in a way that is as poetic as it is disturbing, yet still linked to the hope „that the footsteps of the military boots that ran with me on the evening of 5 August will become the sound of the peace march.“ Following this plea for peace, Dr Gabriele von Wahlert and Dr Ingrid Farzin from IPPNW Bochum described the need to disarm nuclear weapons.

The review of this event not only marks the end of the year 2024, but also the end of an|outlook as you and you know it so far.

2025 will be a special year for the Fritz Bauer Forum and we want to share more of our day-to-day work with you. We have therefore decided to change the format and report more in the same place about what keeps us busy every day and provide insights into the various fields of activity at the Fritz Bauer Forum.

An exciting programme of events awaits you at Feldmark in the coming year. In addition to a book publication on the subject of resistance to National Socialism in the Ruhr region, we have prepared a series of events on various stories of resistance. In spring, we will also be starting a project funded by Demokratie leben! together with the New Israel Fund e.V., in which we are developing a workshop programme for schools and trainees in the police and justice system.

We are also strengthening our presence at the neighbouring universities of Witten/Herdecke and Ruhr-Universität Bochum. To this end, we have organised two seminars in which students take an in-depth look at the topics of human rights, democracy and resistance through the biographies of various activists. One of the aims of these seminars is to write resistance biographies for our Interactive Fritz Bauer Library, so there will be more exciting stories to research and read here in the future.

In May 2025, we have a very special weekend ahead of us with the opening of the Fritz Bauer Forum. In addition to the official opening – more about the prominent and committed contributors soon! – we have planned an academic conference with international guests, as well as a day with a cultural programme in cooperation with various Bochum-based groups and initiatives. This weekend is the crowning glory of our work to date and at the same time the start of regular operations at Feldmark 107 with lectures, seminars and workshops, special exhibitions, archive and library work and much more.

2025 will therefore be a special year for the Fritz Bauer Forum.

We have spent the past few months developing a new website to keep you and yourselves even better informed about upcoming developments, our events and the various options available at the Fritz Bauer Forum – for example, it will be possible to rent well-equipped rooms from us in the future. We are currently creating a customised website for the needs of this special and unique place and our visitors and contributors.

Whether on site or online, we look forward to your visit to celebrate diversity!