As part of my lecture, a project will be presented in which narrative biographical interviews will be used to trace the migration routes of Jewish refugees who were able to emigrate from Germany, Austria and other German-speaking areas gradually annexed in the 1930s to 1940s (https://kartografiedesisraelkorpus.wordpress.com/). This investigation makes it possible not only to depict individual fates, but also to reconstruct the fate of other family members: In these family narratives, various migration stories converge, in which experiences of expulsion, flight and migration are told. Some of these go back to the pogroms in the 18th century, or are associated with the consequences of the First World War and the subsequent deterritorialization, but above all they are caused by the persecution of Jews during the National Socialist era. While the interviewees managed to escape, this does not apply to many of their relatives, who suffered the same fate as Jura Soyfer and did not survive this time.
Following the presentation of this research work – which also deals with the multilingualism of the interviewees and their ancestors – it will be considered where and how (e.B. at schools, in cultural centres, etc.) such a project and its means of representation can be used within the framework of a living culture of remembrance and how connections to Jura Soyfer’s work can be established, to continue the reappraisal of the past.