The Liberation Route Europe is a certified cultural route of the Council of Europe that connects people, places and events to commemorate Europe’s liberation from National Socialism and to reflect on the long-lasting consequences and history of the war through a multinational, multi-perspective approach.

Actors in Germany have taken up this idea. Since the historical experiences of “liberation” differ in Germany and the Netherlands on the one hand, and in West and East Germany on the other, the colloquium aims to find approaches to how a cross-border cultural route can function under the more clearly defined concept of “liberation”. Speakers and discussion participants from West and East Germany and from the Netherlands are invited.

The conference venue is the “Freedom Museum” (formerly “Liberation Museum”) in Groesbeek (NL). A place of learning and remembrance that has realised the idea of multiperspectivity excellently in its proximity to the German border.

Historians, museum educators and regional developers are invited. Important for the event is the participation of young people who are interested in topics of remembrance culture in international exchange.

Programme
08:30 Opening and welcome coffee

09:00-9:30 Welcome and introduction

• Wiel Lenders, Director Freedom Museum
• Gotthard Kirch, Liberation Route NRW e.V.

10:00-12:00 Panel 1

Liberation as a military victory over the Wehrmacht (three keynote speeches followed by discussion and visualisation of central theses)
Moderation: Dr. Lars Fähling

• Alexander Berkel (ZDF), The “price of liberation” using the example of casualty figures during the Rhine crossing
• Dr. Jörg Morré (German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst), The Liberation Mission of the Red Army and the German Victim Narrative
• Prof. Dr. Beatrice de Graaf (University of Utrecht), Dimensions of Liberation from a Dutch Perspective

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch snack

13:00 – 15:00 Panel 2

Liberation as a component of European remembrance culture (three presentations followed by discussion and visualisation of central theses) Moderation: Wiel Lenders

• Uta Birkemeyer (Allied Museum Berlin), Liberation Narratives in the Allied Museum
• A representative of the Liberation Route Foundation on the motif of liberation in the “Liberation Route” “Hiking Trails”, “Europe remembers” and “EASTory through their Eyes” projects
• Gotthard Kirch, (LRE NRW e. V.), experiences in the development and implementation of 10 listening stones in NRW with partners from the Netherlands.

Coffee break

15:30-17:30 Panel 3

Constructions of meaning of liberation (panel discussion with three participants: statement round) Moderation: Dr. Jörg Morré

• Dr. Ralph Trost, Liberation or Occupation? The end of the war and the post-war period
  as a cross-border experience
• Jun.-Prof. Dr. Christine Gundermann – Public History at the University of Cologne
• Wiel Lenders (Freedom Museum Groesbeek), From Liberation to Freedom

17:30 – 18:00: Agreement on further steps/concluding remarks/ /farewell

Organised by Liberation Route NRW e. V. in cooperation with the
Vrijheidsmuseum in Groesbeek and Liberation Route Germany e. V.