As in many areas, BVB has had to adapt to the special conditions of the Corona pandemic in the field of remembrance projects and historical-political education for the past year.
As in many areas, BVB has had to adapt to the special conditions of the Corona pandemic in the field of remembrance projects and historical-political education for the past year. In recent months, online events on various topics have been an integral part of this work.
To commemorate the anniversary of the deportation from Dortmund to Auschwitz in March 1943, the ceremony also had to take place digitally. Only a small delegation from BVB and from the BVB Fan and Supporters section were able to lay flowers at the memorial plaque at Dortmund Südbahnhof on 3 March.
Every year on this day of remembrance, BVB not only commemorates more than 500 Jews who were deported from Arnsberg administrative district to Auschwitz 78 years ago, but also the Jewish German national team player Julius Hirsch. He was also on board this transport, which had already started in Karlsruhe on 1 March and – after further stops in Koblenz, Dortmund, Bielefeld, Hanover and Dresden – finally brought over 1,500 Jews to the concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz. Most of them, like Hirsch, were murdered immediately after arrival.
As a special element of the online event on 4 March, an interactive format was offered for the first time in which participants could become active themselves. In this way, BVB participated in the “Every Name Counts” campaign launched by the “Arolsen Archives”. This multilateral institution was originally founded as the “International Tracing Service” to clarify the fates of Nazi persecutees. Today, the archive houses the world’s largest collection on the subject with around 30 million documents containing clues to the fates of 17.5 million people. Although digitisation of the material began early on, there is still work to be done and much of it cannot be transferred digitally, but only by human hand.
With this in mind, the Arolsen Archives developed an impressive and internationally successful campaign. With the help of people from all over the world, names and data from historical documents are being transferred to a central database under the motto #everynamecounts, thus giving the victims, who often still remain nameless today, an identity. The world’s largest online memorial is being created.
BVB fans and members also took part in this campaign on 4 March and afterwards discussed their moving insights, because behind every document lies an individual fate of persecution.
Participation is still possible 24 hours a day. Further information is available here: https://arolsen-archives.org.
