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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Nov 21 2012
Can Germany be a model for Turkey in confrontation with past atrocities?
ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ
[email protected]
I have been in Berlin, Germany for the last few days. We, some
journalists and human rights activists from Turkey, have been invited
here by the European Academy Berlin, with the financial support of the
Germany's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a conference titled
"Difficult Heritage of the Past."
We are here to observe how Germany faced its problematic past
including the atrocities committed by Nazis.
Before attending the conference I had a few prejudices about Germany's
progress in facing its Nazi past. Firstly, I thought, this was an
involuntary confrontation, Germans were forced to look at their
troubled past by external powers who had them on their knees after
World War II. So how could they be a model for any country that will
face its past voluntarily?
I was also quite prejudiced about whether they really did confront
their past. If they confronted their past how was it possible then
that many neo-Nazis still live in the country? Did we not witness the
collaboration between members of Germany's intelligence agency and
neo-Nazis who committed serial murders of Muslims, and have been
dubbed the "kebab murders" since most of the immigrant victims were
running kebab houses?
For the question of involuntary confrontation with the past, I came to
the conclusion that I was doing a little bit of injustice to Germany
in this regard. They may have started this process after a devastating
defeat, but it is clear that Germans created a new world, which is
basically based on an endless process of remembering, commemorating
and confronting the past. I was extremely impressed and touched when I
saw a particular wall in one of the kindergarten classrooms in Berlin.
The school is in the Bavyera region. The wall is based on a very
innovative idea of remembering the past. Every year teachers wants
their students to look at an album of the Jews who once lived in this
neighborhood and were taken out of their homes by Nazis. Students are
requested to draw parallels between their own lives and with one of
these Jews who were exiled from there. The students then identify
themselves with one of these Jews and write their name on a brick,
later on they put these bricks, one on top of the other. There is
already quite a high wall there. This school alone showed how
"remembering" has become a part of daily life in Germany.
As soon as I saw it I really wished that one day our children would do
a similar thing. I imagined children in İstanbul building a wall by
writing on bricks the names of Armenian intellectuals who were taken
from their homes on April 24, 1915 and never came back again. I really
wish that we can do a similar thing in Turkey in the near future.
I still could not find answers to the second question, namely
neo-Nazis and their connection with the intelligence agency; however,
I observed that confronting the past is a clear state policy here in
Germany. Museums, exhibitions and the school curriculum all show how
the state apparatus invested in this endeavor. So little by little I
started to realize that Turkey can significantly benefit from the
German experience on this difficult terrain of confrontation with the
past. While I was attending the program I also developed some ideas
for a new framework that I think might by quite useful for Turkey. I
will continue sharing my observations on this learning tour with you.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnistDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=299031
From: A. Papazian
Nov 21 2012
Can Germany be a model for Turkey in confrontation with past atrocities?
ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ
[email protected]
I have been in Berlin, Germany for the last few days. We, some
journalists and human rights activists from Turkey, have been invited
here by the European Academy Berlin, with the financial support of the
Germany's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a conference titled
"Difficult Heritage of the Past."
We are here to observe how Germany faced its problematic past
including the atrocities committed by Nazis.
Before attending the conference I had a few prejudices about Germany's
progress in facing its Nazi past. Firstly, I thought, this was an
involuntary confrontation, Germans were forced to look at their
troubled past by external powers who had them on their knees after
World War II. So how could they be a model for any country that will
face its past voluntarily?
I was also quite prejudiced about whether they really did confront
their past. If they confronted their past how was it possible then
that many neo-Nazis still live in the country? Did we not witness the
collaboration between members of Germany's intelligence agency and
neo-Nazis who committed serial murders of Muslims, and have been
dubbed the "kebab murders" since most of the immigrant victims were
running kebab houses?
For the question of involuntary confrontation with the past, I came to
the conclusion that I was doing a little bit of injustice to Germany
in this regard. They may have started this process after a devastating
defeat, but it is clear that Germans created a new world, which is
basically based on an endless process of remembering, commemorating
and confronting the past. I was extremely impressed and touched when I
saw a particular wall in one of the kindergarten classrooms in Berlin.
The school is in the Bavyera region. The wall is based on a very
innovative idea of remembering the past. Every year teachers wants
their students to look at an album of the Jews who once lived in this
neighborhood and were taken out of their homes by Nazis. Students are
requested to draw parallels between their own lives and with one of
these Jews who were exiled from there. The students then identify
themselves with one of these Jews and write their name on a brick,
later on they put these bricks, one on top of the other. There is
already quite a high wall there. This school alone showed how
"remembering" has become a part of daily life in Germany.
As soon as I saw it I really wished that one day our children would do
a similar thing. I imagined children in İstanbul building a wall by
writing on bricks the names of Armenian intellectuals who were taken
from their homes on April 24, 1915 and never came back again. I really
wish that we can do a similar thing in Turkey in the near future.
I still could not find answers to the second question, namely
neo-Nazis and their connection with the intelligence agency; however,
I observed that confronting the past is a clear state policy here in
Germany. Museums, exhibitions and the school curriculum all show how
the state apparatus invested in this endeavor. So little by little I
started to realize that Turkey can significantly benefit from the
German experience on this difficult terrain of confrontation with the
past. While I was attending the program I also developed some ideas
for a new framework that I think might by quite useful for Turkey. I
will continue sharing my observations on this learning tour with you.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnistDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=299031
From: A. Papazian