Looking back. Looking ahead. 2020-2025

220   SPEECHES | INSTITUTIONS Institutions A look at our universities paints a bleak picture. It was only in 2017 – 72 years after the SecondWorldWar – that the first pro- fessorship in Holocaust studies was established in Germany. A study by the Free University of Berlin and the Jewish Claims Conference shows that many universities do not even teach basic knowledge about the history of the Holocaust. Ladies and Gentlemen, Jewish life in Germany is by no means limited to the years 1933 to 1945. It is a history spanning 1,700 years – and its depth and richness should be reflected in our school curricula. At the same time, we must avoid the fatigue that can arise when   students are confronted too frequently – and without suffi- cient care – with the Shoah. But when schools neglect the study of the Shoah, they ef- fectively create space for politicians who want to draw a line under the past and prefer to shine a spotlight on the “glorious” chapters of German history. These are politicians who are being elected despite inciting against minorities, challenging religious freedom and spread- ing völkisch-nationalist ideas. They exploit both the gaps in our historical knowledge and the frustration that arises when young people feel they are being made to carry guilt for   Germany’s past. Right-wing populists are already beginning   to undermine our democratic achievements from the fringes. We must close that gateway. That means providing our teachers with robust training. And it means providing memorial sites with greater support. Today, concentration camp memorial sites are confronted with young people for whom these historical events feel very distant – and with a growing number of adult visitors who question or deny the crimes of the Shoah. The memorials have long adapted to this reality: They train their staff, make use of social media and employ modern ed- ucational methods. Many of them do outstanding work – and the Jewish community is very grateful for their commitment. But they also require adequate financial resources, and so I call on the federal and state governments: Do not cut funding in this area. Authentic sites, where the victims remain at the heart of the story, play an irreplaceable role in fostering empa- thy among young people. These are the very places that make the events real again. And I have often seen it with my own eyes: When we reach out to young people and make an emotional connection through the memories of a contemporary witness or through an authentic site, they develop a real sense of responsibility. A responsibility for “Never again”. Never again must people be persecuted for who they are. Never again must human dignity be so trampled upon. Ladies and Gentlemen, Many survivors of the Shoah struggled to come to terms with the fact that they had survived while their entire families and fellow prisoners had been murdered. Many felt a sense of guilt. Some were so overcome by this despair that they took their own lives years after the war – people like Paul Celan, Jean Améry and Primo Levi. Yet many survivors, despite these feelings of guilt, chose to bear witness. They felt – and still feel – that their suffering would not be in vain if lessons could be drawn from history and if they could see that subsequent generations had learned. Passing these lessons on to young people is a debt we owe to people like Ms Havránková and Ms Hackl.We owe it to the millions of women, men and children who were murdered. In closing, I would like to let a Shoah survivor speak for himself: the late Auschwitz survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, who sadly passed away in 2016. Speaking at the commemorative ceremony in the German Bundestag on 27 January 2000, he emphasised the importance of Holocaust education:“Holocaust education is […] important