On March 16, 1945, Würzburg was razed to the ground. Only a few weeks later, the Second World War was supposed to be over.But for the many women, children and the men, peace came too late. 75 years later, we were supposed to take part in the official commemoration ceremony in the town hall to build the bridge from then to now.
But after the virus Covid19 messed up everything pretty much, including the activities for the 75th commemoration of the destruction of Würzburg, the commemoration day on site was cancelled. So we decided to bring our contribution on Instagram, Facebook and at the end in a summarizing video on YouTube. Lucas posted the homemade videos on Instagram and in the end combined them into a movie that is available on our YouTube channel.
Remembering is important. pics4peace, however, is about recognizing connections between then and now and drawing consequences from them.
We, all between 16 and 26, asked ourselves: What does what was then mean for us today in concrete terms?What happened in the run-up to the Second World War? What ultimately led to this inhuman catastrophe? Did it have to come to this? What is comparable to today? What is our task today? What can everyone do?
Six young guys try to answer these questions on topics such as anti-Semitism, extremism, German-American relations, etc. in very personal video statements. Each in his/her own way. They know, remembering without looking further remains ineffective.
Here's more on the videos:
(1) Beyza's Video: Beyza, a young woman from Würzburg who started her studies here, points out - not only with Ghandi - that we have learned nothing from history. Racism and anti-Semitism are more present today than ever. But she has an idea of what everyone*can do to make peace last....
(2) Johannes' Video: Johannes is a high school student who will spend a year in the USA. Since the end of World War II, Americans have played an important role in helping us keep our identity and live in democracy and peace. What is the relationship like today between Germany and America? What are they doing???
(3) Sarul's Video: Sarul is a newly minted dentist and passionate musician known as Sara Teamusician. In her video contribution she asks herself about our responsibility today. Never again war, never again concentration camps, never again killing. Does that have anything to do with me at all? What about my fears? What do I need courage for?
(4) Lucas' Video: Lucas, a trained media designer for image and sound, is currently studying at the University of Würzburg, loves to play theater himself and wants to become a journalist and make movies one day. In his contribution, he looked at the biggest violent riots against Jews in his hometown, which took place on the occasion of a theater performance. That was in 1930, when Würzburg was still living in a democracy, but still. What this has to do with today and what Lucas advises people in relation to anti-Semitism and racism, you will learn in the video...
(5) Anna's Video: Anna has had her high school diploma in her pocket since last summer. In the fall, she began an environmental year that took her to the youth environmental platform JUMP in Vienna, Austria. From there she joins pics4peace every now and then or visits us when she is on home leave. In her statement, she takes aim at the topic of freedom of expression. What was it actually like back then, when National Socialism moved into Würzburg and everywhere else? Something about it reminds her of Michael Ende's Momo. What do you think? And today? What about us? And what does that have to do with solidarity???
(6) Tobias' Video: Tobi also only finished school last year. Now he studies business and is politically active. He is concerned about the margins in our society, which are becoming stronger and stronger. Even back then, before the war, there were extremist fringe parties that got themselves elected to parliament the democratic way. One of them turned our country into a dictatorship with devastating consequences. How do we deal with parties that hold extremist views today? Tobias has a recipe, which he reveals in his video...
Here you can see the six contributions in one video on YouTube.
