Museum Forced Labor Under National Socialism

Background

Our long-time travelling exhibition about forced labour under national socialism, which was shown first at the Jewish Museum Berlin in 2010 and then at six further locations, has now been permanently installed at the former Gauforum in Weimar. This complex of buildings, planned by the Nazis as a gigantean representational site (and then completed by the Soviet Military Administration after the war), now houses the Museum Forced Labor Under National Socialism with our exhibition.

The planning and the development of the newly created museum has been realised under the lead of gewerkdesign. The construction of the functional museum areas, among them the foyer with the cashier’s desk and lockers as well as two public rooms for workshops, was a special challenge in this building. The exhibition extends across several rooms, mainly across the one originally devised as a ceremonial hall. The built-in components of the exhibition densify more and more and turn the atmosphere of the space successively dark and importunate – a contrast that becomes apparent especially against the bulky feel of the hall.

In five chapters – habituation, radicalisation, mass phenomenon, liberation, damaged justice – the ineffable stories of forced labourers are told, who have not only been abused for the purposes of the national socialists but also for those of German companies and households. The exhibition has in some parts been adapted to the city of Weimar and new content has been added. By means of partially intoned letters and diary entries, along with personal items and photographs, the people get a face and a voice. On an interactive media table with a city map of Weimar, visitors can select audible content and understand what events took place where in and around Weimar, in the vicinity of which the concentration camp Buchenwald is located. In the last room, contemporary witnesses await the visitors on screens, telling their stories on request. A large wall painting of a graphically designed timeline shows the development of forced labour and its consequences until today. 

Tasks / Range of Services
General contractor, implementation planning, exhibition architecture, planning and construction of the functional museum areas, project management and consulting, project development, exhibition design and planning, exhibition production, planning of the object presentation, development and production of the hands-on exhibits, media design, exhibition graphics, signage system