Hirtenberg: Students build monuments for remembering the Holocaust

Hirtenberg: Students build monuments for remembering the Holocaust

Hirtenberg, Österreich - In Hirtenberg, an ambitious project is being carried out by the third classes of the new middle school at the current time. Under the direction of artist and educator Petra Mühlmann-Hatzl, the students prepare an exhibition that bears the title "Take time in the monument". This project focuses on pluralistic reminders and the examination of the Holocaust and the escape history, which is particularly important for the classes mixed with migrants and refugee children. The pupils insist to ask what they can contribute to the class association while learning at the same time how important it is to deal with mindful and socially with each other.

The school project is realized with the support of the Ministry of Education and in cooperation with the Symposion Lindabrunn Association and the Sigmund Freud University. The students create group projects in the form of architectural models, which are designed as small Holocaust monuments. Not only the Pythagorean teaching rate is integrated into the design phase, but also the translation of the imagine text into different mother tongues of those involved. A trip to the ruins of the ammunition factory on the Lindenberg is organized as part of the project, which offers the students a practical connection to the history.

a room for memory and hope

The monuments that create the classes not only express the events of the past, but also create a space for hope and peaceful coexistence. Among other things, they address bullying and create a connection to current society. Creative concepts such as an escape room are planned, in which the topics of racism, bullying and Holocaust are treated and which ends with a garden as a starting point. This clearly shows that the students not only build a passive memory, but are actively involved in the design of their memorials.

On June 20, 2025 at 5:30 p.m., the exhibition "Time Time in the Monument" will be presented at the Lindabrunn symposium. Under the direction of Petra Mühlmann-Hatzl, the need is also discussed that students learn more about the time of National Socialism, since it is often lacking in knowledge of this time.

The challenge of remembering