Between Silence and Repression. Germany‘s Culture of Remembrance and Palestine

In this session, our guest speakers Dr. Pegah Byroum-Wand and Ahmad Dakhnous will try to shed light on Germany's culture of remembrance, focusing specifically on Palestine and Palestinian perspectives, introducing the concept of multidirectional memory.
On a grey background there is written in pink and black: Decolonising Cultures of Remembrance - February 17th, 5pm CET - between silence and repression

when: 17th of February at 5:00 pm (CET)

where: online on BigBlueButton, the link will be provided after the registration

with whom: Dr. Pegah Byroum-Wand and Ahmad Dakhnous

duration: 2 hours

language: English spoken language

registration link: the number of participants is limited to 25 people, so, in order to take part, please, register https://educat-veranstaltungen.org/56/

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. 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. 

Costs

The event is free of charge. 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

https://de.linkedin.com/in/dr-pegah-byroum-wand-72ab39172

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:

https://www.gesellschaftimwandel.org/team/ahmad-dakhnous

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.