Opening of the Fritz Bauer Forum – Day 3

The time has finally come – the Fritz Bauer Forum is opening! Following the laying of the foundation stone in August 2021 and the opening of the library in summer 2023, where many exciting events and workshops have taken place since then, the time has finally come! We want to celebrate – with a conference, a cultural programme and much more from 22-24 May 2025. We cordially invite you to get to know the Forum and its new rooms and to join us in conversation.

On Saturday, 24 May 2025, many different groups and initiatives from Bochum will present themselves and their work in a diverse cultural programme at the Fritz Bauer Forum – come and see us!

Visit Café Historias for coffee, cake and snacks.

Programme booklet

Here you can find the preliminary programme:

Fritz Bauer Bibliothek

• 11.00 – 11.30 a.m.: Lecture | Fritz Bauer and the Fritz Bauer Forum (Irmtrud Wojak) | In her short lecture, Irmtrud Wojak, founder and director of the Fritz Bauer Forum, will give an insight into Fritz Bauer’s life and the work of the Fritz Bauer Forum.
• 14:00 – 14:45: Reading & music |‘Singvögel und Raben waren auch nicht mehr da’ (Fabian Liedtke and Rima Ideguchi) | The book ‘Singvögel und Raben waren auch nicht mehr da- Bericht aus dem Zentrum der Atombombenexplosion’ describes the memories of Shigemi Ideguchi, who experienced and survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 from a distance of just 500 metres. In 2015, his granddaughter Rima Ideguchi and her husband Fabian Liedtke translated the book into German. Rima Ideguchi: trombone, reading: Fabian Liedtke.
• 15:00 – 15:30: Lecture | Fritz Bauer and the Fritz Bauer Forum (Irmtrud Wojak) | In her short lecture, Irmtrud Wojak, founder and director of the Fritz Bauer Forum, will give an insight into Fritz Bauer’s life and the work of the Fritz Bauer Forum.
• 16:00 – 17:00: Audio installation | W. – DIE WÜRDE DES MENSCHEN IST UNANTASTBAR (Ute Friederike Jürß) | The audio installation ‘Menschenwürde’ by artist Ute Friederike Jürß poses questions to the audience. What is dignity and what is meant by the inviolability of dignity?

Also in the Fritz Bauer Bibliothek:

• 11:00 – 17:00: Exhibition | Reinhold Spratte: Paintings from the ‘Fritz Bauer Library’ book series | The Witten-based artist Reinhold Spratte has designed the covers of the ‘Fritz Bauer Library’ book series and captured the stories of courage and resistance in an impressive way. His pictures and further information on the books can be found on the upper floors of the Fritz Bauer Library.
• 11:00 – 17:00: Exhibition | The caricatures of Kurt Nelhiebel | The journalist and author Kurt Nelhiebel (pseudonym Conrad Taler) reported on the Frankfurt Auschwitz trial, among other things, and accompanied the history of the Federal Republic of Germany with his caricatures. He depicted the topics that moved him with both anger and humour. Selected caricatures can be seen on the screen in the Fritz Bauer Library (except during the programme).
• 11:00 – 17:00: Exhibition | Despised – Expelled – Persecuted. The persecution of the Sinti and Roma in Bochum and Wattenscheid (VVN-BdA Bochum) | The exhibition on the top floor of the Fritz Bauer Library commemorates the Sinti and Roma in Bochum and Wattenscheid and their lives from 1930 onwards.

Großer Saal UG

• 11:30 – 12:00: Lecture | Defending diversity and human rights in football. The Reporting Centre for Discrimination in Football in NRW (MeDiF-NRW) | The lecture will first take an analytical look at the dynamics of exclusion and discrimination in football. It will then present the work of the reporting centre based in Bochum. The focus will be on political education work to raise awareness of diversity and human rights on and off the football pitch.
• 12:00 – 12:45: Lecture | The role of the economy in the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship, the rearmament and war policy in the Ruhr area 1925 – 1945 (VVN-BdA Bochum) | Hitler’s rise and that of his party would not have been possible without the support of the economy. He quickly found great help and financial patrons, especially on the Rhine and Ruhr. The lecture offers insights into the structure and mechanisms that created this development. And how the corporations on the Rhine and Ruhr made themselves an instrument of total warfare, the exploitation of their own population as well as the exploitation of the subjugated countries and their people.
• 13:00 – 14:30: Workshop | Young Ruhrpott Agenda: A home as we want it (Ruhrpott for Europe) | The workshop invites young people to engage with the significance of the 2025 local elections. The participants interactively develop personal stories that visualise their view of their home and the necessary changes. The demands are then concretised and approaches are discussed as to how they can be communicated both in their own environment and externally via media channels. The number of participants is limited, if you are interested please arrive early in front of the Great Hall.
• 15:30 – 16:30: Live podcast recording | ‘Recht und Menschenrechte: der Podcast Zehn Zwölf live – Martin v. Berswordt-Wallrabe in conversation with Thomas Galli | Martin von Berswordt-Wallrabe welcomes the lawyer and former government director, M.A., B.Sc., Dr iur. Thomas Galli to this live recording of the podcast ‘Zehn Zwölf’, which appears on the 10th of each month and in which people who are committed to human rights – politically, literarily, as activists or as academics – have their say. He worked in the prison system for over fifteen years and is a critic of it. In this interview, he presents his new book ‘How we can defeat crime. Ideas for overcoming punishment’. There will be an opportunity to ask questions after the recording.

Also in the Großer Saal:

• 11:00 – 17:00: Exhibition | Construction progress of the Fritz Bauer Forum (Richard Lensit) | The photographer Richard Lensit has accompanied the construction progress of the Fritz Bauer Forum and is showing a selection of his photographs.

Seminarraum

Limited number of participants, if you are interested please arrive early in front of the seminar room.

• 11:30 – 12:00: Reading | ‘Resistance and persecution of Bochum women and forced labourers 1933-1945’ (Frauenverband Courage e.V.) | Reading from the book ‘Resistance and persecution of Bochum women and forced labourers 1933-1945’ by the women’s association Courage Bochum with examples of Bochum women in the anti-fascist resistance and explanations of the origin and aim of the research.
• 12:30 – 13:00: Lecture | Critical Whiteness – an introduction (LiteraturKollektiv Bochum e. V.) | How can we avoid racist and hurtful statements? How can white people deal responsibly with their own attitudes and recognise racist structures and stereotypes in language?
• 13:30 – 15:00: Impulse workshop | Radically polite in dealing with right-wing populism (Kleiner Fünf (Tadel verpflichtet e.V.)) | We encounter right-wing populism in various situations in our private, professional, political, university and school lives. We often feel powerless in these moments. In our workshop, we want to encourage you and develop strategies together to counter right-wing populist statements with radical politeness. Participation possible after registration at magdalena.koehler@fritz-bauer-forum.de until 21 May.
• 15:30 – 16:00: Short film & staged reading | Nix ver-BERGEN – Remembrance work at a new memorial site in Bochum (Initiative Gedenkort Bochum-Bergen) | A short film will illustrate the remembrance work of the Initiative Gedenkort Bochum-Bergen over the last 4 years. A staged reading from letters written by forced labourers from Donetsk, Bochum’s twin city, recounts their very personal experiences of deportation and the hard work at Zeche Constantin. In Bochum, they lost their youth, their health and some even their lives – some of them later returned to the place of their torment to come to terms with their personal experiences, but also as a sign of international understanding.
• 16:15 – 16:30: Lecture | Seebrücke Bochum introduces itself (Seebrücke Bochum) | Members of Seebrücke Bochum present the initiative and its work and activities.

Kaminzimmer

Limited number of participants, if you are interested, please arrive early in front of the Kaminzimmer.

• 11:30 – 12:00: Mini-Workshop | Telling stories well (LiteraturKollektiv Bochum e. V.) | In order to reach people and be remembered, every kind of story deserves to be told well. Even the inexperienced can learn the basics of storytelling quickly and easily. A mini-workshop by authors from Bochum for anyone who wants to share their memories and experiences.
• 13:00 – 13:30: Lecture | Mass rape as a weapon of war – a visit to the courageous women in Sarajevo (Frauenverband Courage e.V.) | Mass rape as a weapon of war and war crime, illustrated using the example of the systematic mass rapes in Bosnia 1992-1995 and how two associations ‘Women as war victims’ in Sarajevo deal with them today.
• 14:00 – 14:30: Music | Red Notes – Songs of Struggle, Resistance and Proletariat (Jo) | The history of resistance and labour movements worldwide is a history with a soundtrack. Music has always been a medium that informs, connects, maintains the courage to act and reminds us of historical events and the spirit of solidarity in later times. Jo plays a selection of these songs unamplified on the acoustic guitar.
• 15:00 – 15:30: Mini-Workshop | Telling stories well (LiteraturKollektiv Bochum e. V.) | In order to reach people and be remembered, every kind of story deserves to be told well. Even the inexperienced can learn the basics of storytelling quickly and easily. A mini-workshop by authors from Bochum for anyone who wants to share their memories and experiences.
• 16:00 – 16:30: Music | Red Notes – Songs of Struggle, Resistance and Proletariat (Jo) | The history of resistance and labour movements worldwide is a story with a soundtrack. Music has always been a medium that informs, connects, maintains the courage to act and reminds us of historical events and the spirit of solidarity in later times. Jo plays a selection of these songs unamplified on the acoustic guitar.

Tours

• 13:30 – 15:00: Tour of the main cemetery | The Aesthetics of Evil – Desecrated (Kortum-Gesellschaft Bochum e.V.) | In 1935 – 90 years ago – today’s main cemetery Freigrafendamm was opened for burials. Completed in 1939, the Freigrafendamm cemetery ensemble shows the ‘seductive’ Nazi building concept. The mourning hall architecture is unique in Germany and the only completed and preserved example of heroic fascist state and party architecture in Westphalia. The aesthetics of evil were countered in the post-war period by the large and admonishing mosaic ‘Niobe’ together with a high cross. Graves of Nazi victims surround the mourning halls – a tour shows all of this. Meeting point: 13:30 Fritz Bauer Forum Infothek. Limited number of participants, please arrive early at the information desk if you are interested.
• 15:00 – 16:30: Tour | Urban idyll or socio-ecological dead end – the future viability of the detached house put to the test (Stadt für Alle Bochum) | Many people dream of having their own four walls for the family and as a retirement home.But how can an urban idyll be reconciled with ecological, welfare-orientated and feminist requirements?A tour of the Ostpark site on the future viability of the detached house.Meeting point at the information desk, limited number of participants, please arrive early at the information desk if you are interested.

Further programme items throughout the Fritz Bauer Forum

• 11:00 – 14:00: Wheel of fortune | Human rights (Amnesty International Bochum) | Find out what you know about human rights in general and women’s and children’s rights in particular with the wheel of fortune.
• 11:30 – 12:00: Guided tour | Art in the Fritz Bauer Forum (Dorothee Schäfer) | The artist Dorothee Schäfer offers a short guided tour of the exhibited artworks, where you can learn more about the history of their creation and the artists.Meeting point: Infothek.
  12:00 – 12:30: Project presentation | Werkstatt Demokratie (Dorothee Schäfer, Irmtrud Wojak, Simone Neumann-Salva) | Under the direction of Dorothee Schäfer, the ‘Democracy Workshop’ has taken place at various schools in Bochum over the past few months. Dorothee Schäfer, Irmtrud Wojak and Simone Neumann-Salva introduce the project and present the resulting artworks.
• 13:00 – 13:30: Guided tour | Art in the Fritz Bauer Forum (Dorothee Schäfer) | The artist Dorothee Schäfer offers a short guided tour of the exhibited artworks, during which you can learn more about the history of their creation and the artists. Meeting point: Infothek.
• 14:00 – 14:15: Action | A tree for… (Naturfreunde Bochum-Langendreer) | Together we dedicate a tree in the garden of the Fritz Bauer Forum to an important person in the fight for human rights.
• 14:15-14:30: Action | A tree for… (Fritz Bauer Forum) | Together we dedicate a tree in the garden of the Fritz Bauer Forum to an important person in the fight for human rights.
• 14:30 – 15:30: (Theatre) performance | Ökonopoly (network for citizen-oriented urban development) | Ökonopoly is a (theatre) performance on the topic of ‘Urban development needs participation’.
  The players take on different roles on a Monopoly-style playing field, visualising the rules according to which the individuals act. The game about interest-led behaviour is also intended to reveal how action based on cooperation can offer citizens greater chances of success. The game also offers spectators the opportunity to take on these roles and actively participate.
• 14:30 – 15:00: Guided tour | Art in the Fritz Bauer Forum (Dorothee Schäfer) | The artist Dorothee Schäfer offers a short guided tour of the exhibited artworks, during which you can learn more about the history of their creation and the artists. Meeting point: Infothek.
• 16:00 – 16:30: Guided tour | Art in the Fritz Bauer Forum (Dorothee Schäfer) | The artist Dorothee Schäfer offers a short guided tour of the exhibited artworks, during which you can learn more about the history of their creation and the artists. Meeting point: Infothek.

On display throughout the day at the Fritz Bauer Forum

• Crane folding action | Sadako’s cranes – for a world without nuclear weapons (IPPNW – Regional Group Bochum-International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War) | 80 years after the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the danger of another nuclear war has grown. ‘We will not be able to help you’ a nuclear war must be prevented, recognised recognised the IPPNW. Let’s take a stand together against nuclear weapons and send 15,000 origami cranes to Hiroshima as peace ambassadors. They are a reminder of the 4 peace bells that more than 15,000 people from Bochum sent to Japan in 1952. ‘Germany, devastated by war, united with the people of Japan in the works of peace’ reads the inscription on one of the bells. We want to fold cranes together and inform people about the global fight against nuclear weapons.
• Exhibition | ‘Our home, our love’ (Fanprojekt Bochum) | Parts of the exhibition ‘Our home, our love’, which was conceived under the coordination of Fanprojekt Bochum by the working group ‘1938, just so everyone knows’ – an association of VfL Bochum 1848 fans interested in history – will be on display. It focuses on the role of the city of Bochum under National Socialism, the founding history of VfL Bochum 1848 and the history of the last football champion in the Jewish association, Schild Bochum.
• Exhibition | For a democratic coexistence (Omas gegen Rechts) | The Omas gegen Rechts show their various working groups and activities.
• Exhibition | Antifascism, climate, animal rights (Mike and Rabea) | The two photographers show selected works on the topics of antifascism, climate and animal rights.

As well as many other artworks and actions! We are constantly adding to the programme.