WueGlobal Online Exhibition
The results of multi-media student projects, developed within the framework of the WueGlobal-seminar “Monuments & Memory”, which was conducted digitally during the summer term 2021 and involved Prof. Dr. Flachenecker (History) and Prof. Dr. Snyder-Körber (American Cultural Studies) of JMU, as well as professors of the Flagler-Colleges in St. Augustine and Tallahassee Florida/USA, are presented on a JMU website as an online-exhibition.
On Wednesday, November 10th, the exhibition “Monuments & Memory – Transatlantic Cultures and Histories” was opened in a hybrid mode. A limited number of people – including members of the departments of American Studies and History involved in the project, Prof. Dr. Wayne Riggs of Flagler College and students, who participated in the cooperative seminar during the summer term and contributed to the exhibition with their projects – met at the building of the Graduate School for the Humanities on campus in compliance with all measures against COVID-19. Simultaneously, additional colleagues and students were able to participate in the opening ceremony via ZOOM.The highlight of the event was the presentation of the project titled “Jewish Sites of Remembrance and Surviving the Holocaust through Immigration” by Tobias Debold and Timothy Holden.
From the USA, Members of the Steinberger-Clair family were connected via video. The project looked at the roots of the family in Dettelbach and Würzburg in three short films. Even ninety-year-old Eva Steinberger-Clair was able to attend the meeting via ZOOM, when her parents’ home (which now houses the Stephans-Buchhandlung) was to be seen in the picture and extracts from her memories on a house search by the Gestapo were read out in one of the films. The virtual presence of Ms Steinberger-Clair and some of her family members, among others her son Jeff Clair, who also spoke to the guests on ZOOM and on site in Würzburg, was a great honor for us.
After the official opening program, people on site could explore the exhibition via computers or print material made available at specific stands and enter into a conversation with students from the respective project groups about their contributions. At the same time, guests connected via ZOOM could also speak to students involved in the exhibition, instructors and the Steinberger-Clair family about the project.
Monuments & Memory - WueGlobal Online Exhibition
Photos: Petra Winkelhardt
Here are some photographs from the opening of the exhibition. A group photograph, exclusively with fully vaccinated people, the group on site with the guests connected via ZOOM, Prof. Dr. Snyder-Körber as WueGlobal-project manager and Prof. Dr. Wayne Riggs of Flagler College, who is teaching at the Institute of History this semester.
