The event is in the past – thank you for your interest! In the section “Insights” you can get an impression, the presentation as pdf and some useful links to the topic.
- when: 17th of February at 5:00 pm (CET)
- with whom: Dr. Pegah Byroum-Wand and Ahmad Dakhnous
What is it about
In this session, our guest speakers will try to shed light on Germany’s culture of remembrance, focusing specifically on Palestine and Palestinian perspectives, introducing the concepts of ‘Staatsräson’ and multidirectional memory.
How have Germany’s memory landscape and politics evolved over time, with special attention to developments since October 7, 2023? They address changes in historical, juridical, and cultural aspects and their current impacts, including topics such as Germany’s “Staatsräson” (reason of state), the new federal National Memorial Sites concept, and the concept of multidirectional memory as suggested by Michael Rothberg. Finally, we will illustrate the relationship between Germany’s culture of remembrance and Palestine by exploring examples of the suppression of voices and events related to Palestine in general, and Gaza in particular.
Insights
The presentation as pdf
The presentation by Dr. Pegah Byroum-Wand and Ahmad Dakhnous. For educational use only.
Follow-Up Reads
Below you can find a couple of links to people or concepts, books and arts mentioned. The links are set to open in a new tab.
Daniel Marwecki (2024) – “Absolution? – Israel und die deutsche Staatsräson” https://www.bpb.de/shop/buecher/schriftenreihe/556700/absolution/
Markus Kaim (2015) – “Israels Sicherheit als deutsche Staatsräson Was bedeutet das konkret?” https://www.bpb.de/shop/zeitschriften/apuz/199894/israels-sicherheit-als-deutsche-staatsraeson/
Oyoun Cultural Center Berlin – https://oyoun.de/en/
Police Violence Against Palestine Acitivists in Germany – UN critics on criminalisation – https://www.un.org/unispal/document/un-experts-16oct25/
Dirk A. Moses (2021) – “The German Catechism” https://newfascismsyllabus.com/opinions/the-catechism-debate/the-german-catechism/
Gedenkstättenkonzeption der BRD (Stand 03/2026) – https://kulturstaatsminister.de/aufarbeiten-und-erinnern/gedenkstaettenkonzeption
Michael Rothberg (2009 / deutsche Fassung 2021) – “Multidirektionale
Erinnerung Holocaustgedenken im Zeitalter der Dekolonisierung” https://www.bpb.de/system/files/dokument_pdf/rothberg_bpb_LESEPROBE.pdf
Masha Gessen (2023) – “In the shadow of the Holocaust – How the politics of memory in Europe obscures what we see in Israel and Gaza today.” https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-weekend-essay/in-the-shadow-of-the-holocaust
Medico International (2023) – “Denied commemoration” – https://www.medico.de/en/denied-commemoration-19089
Alena Jabarine (2025) – “Deutschland, warum bist du so leise?” – https://taz.de/Journalistin-ueber-Schweigen-zu-Gaza/!6112725/
Abdalrahman Alqalaq (2024) – “Übergangsritus – Gedichte und Prosa” https://www.perlentaucher.de/buch/abdalrahman-alqalaq/uebergangsritus.html
Archive of Silence – https://archiveofsilence.org/
Support the project
If you feel like you want to support the project, feel free to donate, though 🙂 E.g. on Betterplace with a click on the following link: https://www.betterplace.org/de/projects/85789-educat-e-v-politische-bildung-in-ostdeutschland
Facilitators
Dr. Pegah Byroum-Wand (she/her)
Pegah is a literary and cultural scholar focusing on activism, diversity-oriented organisational development and power-critical collaborations in museums. She has worked at the Technical University of Berlin, the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States and the academy programmes of the Jewish Museum Berlin, among others. She is currently conducting a comprehensive study on post-migrant and postcolonial remembrance initiatives in Germany for the Ruhr University Bochum, and is the editor of the anthology ‘PowerCriticismCollaboration: Practical Reflections between Activism, Museum and University’ (2025).
Photo credits: Pegah Byroum-Wand © Markus Hilbich
Website/Social Media Profiles:
https://museumsandsociety.net/de/team/dr-des-pegah-byroum-wand
Ahmad Dakhnous (he/him)
Ahmad is a political education consultant. He works with multipliers on the topic of Israel and Palestine and how it is negotiated and represented in Germany, and he works with schoolchildren as part of the Trialogue project. Together with Johanna Voß, he also organises the Denkwerkstatt project – critical political education on Palestine and Israel after 7 October. Other areas of focus include racism and antisemitism, human rights, displacement and migration, and the politics of memory.
Photo credits: Ahmad Dakhnous © private archive
Website/Social Media Profile and Links:
Initiators
Educat – Educational Collective
Educat e.V. is a collective of education workers from Dresden, Rostock and Berlin, who do diversity- conscious and critical education, work on remembrance and emancipatory and experimental educational formats. Together with a lot of partners and comrades Educat is facilitating Cultures of Remembrance since 2021.
Project partners
The project has been carried and inspired by a huge network of comrades, activists, artists and educators. For the recent episode of “Cultures of Remembrance” together with Educat Collective, there is Art Platforma, Human Constanta, Prismatica and Solidarity Collectives involved as main partners.
