In October, our team had the privilege of hosting Julia Gilfert, M.A., from Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen for a thought-provoking seminar titled (Un)comfortable rooms, neutralised objects. Exhibiting SS history at Wewelsburg Memorial and Museum.
During the session, Julia shared the history of Wewelsburg, a medieval castle in North Rhine-Westphalia. Once repurposed during the Third Reich as a center for Nazi mysticism, the site now serves as a memorial and museum. The exhibition there explores the activities of the SS in Wewelsburg, alongside the broader history of this organization under the NSDAP rule. Importantly, the museum also honors the victims of SS violence, providing a space for remembrance and reflection.
The seminar delved into the challenging themes of “comfortable” and “uncomfortable” histories. Together with Julia, our team explored how narratives of the past are shaped, contested, and remembered. A particularly intriguing discussion emerged around the concept of the “German ghost” and its potential embodiment as a Nazi ghost—offering insights into the haunting legacies of this difficult history in Germany as well as in the regions we study.
This seminar underscored the importance of critically engaging with sites of memory and their layered meanings, fostering a deeper understanding of the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Thank you Julia for sharing your research with us!
