The world’s largest permanent exhibition on Hitler and the Third Reich has opened in Berlin to counter what its curators say is disturbing ignorance about the Nazi era.
“A common question we get is why the Jews financed Hitler even though he was against them,” said Enno Lenze, a guide and board member of the privately run museum located on three floors of a Second World War bunker. “Another frequent question is who drove the Nazis into the bunkers to gas them. Those questions came from teachers,” he said.
The Holocaust and the Nazi era are taught in German schools and there is copious coverage of both in TV documentaries, films and the media. But the quality of teaching appears to vary, as does the reception. “Young people know the figure of six million murdered Jews but they don’t associate that with anything,” Mr Lenze said. “They don’t see six million individuals who had friends and families.”
Wieland Giebel, a publisher who designed the exhibition, said the ignorance made the museum all the more important. With curbs being imposed on the media and justice systems in Poland, Hungary and Turkey, it was also as relevant as ever.
Read the full article by David Crossland of The Times at The Australian (subscription only).