Hanover thoughtful

Hannover nachdenklich - Hannover offers many places of living memory of moving history. Here you will find topics to reflect on, which the city Hanover from the past to the present day. Captivating articles and pictures to read and visit.

Hannah Arendt

Hannah Arendt was born on 14 October 1906 in Hanover-Linden. After her school years in Königsberg, she studied philosophy in Marburg, Freiburg and Heidelberg, particularly under Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers, as well as theology and classical philology. In 1928, she completed her doctorate under Jaspers with a thesis on the concept of love in Augustine. In 1929, she married Günther Stern (Günther Anders), from whom she separated in 1937.

In 1933, Arendt was arrested for illegal activities for the "Zionist Association for Germany" in Berlin, but was released after a short prison sentence. She then fled via Prague to Paris, the first station of her exile. In Paris, she completed her book on Rahel Varnhagen. Among other things, Arendt worked for the "Youth Aliyah" to save Jewish children. In 1941, she managed to escape to the USA with Heinrich Blücher, her second husband.

Arendt became an American citizen in 1951. She worked as a journalist and took on teaching positions, became known as a columnist for the German-Jewish weekly newspaper "Aufbau", worked as an editor for Schocken Verlag and as managing director of the "Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction". Arendt travelled through Europe in 1949/50. She was reunited with Jaspers, with whom she had always been in correspondence. She also met Heidegger for the first time after the war, with whom she had broken off contact after 1933 due to his support for the National Socialists.

In addition to numerous other awards, she received the "Lessing Prize" from the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in 1959, the "Sigmund Freud Prize" for scientific prose from the German Academy for Language and Poetry in 1967 and the "Sonning Prize" for contributions to European culture awarded by the Danish government in 1975.

The state capital of Hanover commemorates the city's great daughter in many ways: there is a memorial plaque on the house where she was born in Hanover-Linden and the Hannah Arendt Room in the city library with exhibits from her personal possessions. A school and a path near the town hall and state parliament are named after her - and since 2015, the prestigious square in front of the state parliament has commemorated the political theorist and philosopher. The Hannah Arendt Scholarship is awarded annually and the state capital organises the Hannah Arendt Days every year in cooperation with Leibniz Universität Hannover and the Volkswagen Foundation.

www.hannah-arendt-hannover.de

Hiroshima Memorial Grove

On 6 August 1945, almost the entire city of Hiroshima was destroyed by an atomic bomb; three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The state capital of Hanover has been twinned with Hiroshima for over 30 years and regularly commemorates the destruction of the Japanese city and the associated danger of nuclear weapons.

The "Hiroshima Memorial Grove": 110 cherry trees in the Hiroshima Memorial Grove commemorate the 110,000 direct victims of the atomic bombing of Hanover's twin city Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. In 1992, a memorial stone was placed in the form of a granite slab taken directly from the blast site.

The idea of creating a memorial grove originated in the peace movement. The doctors' initiative "Doctors warn against nuclear war" and the "Hiroshima Alliance" launched an appeal for donations. The project was then realised with the help of the city of Hanover. The Hiroshima Memorial Grove is particularly important on "Hiroshima Day", which takes place in Hanover on 6 August each year. Activities and events are organised here on this day.

Janusz-Korczak-Allee | 30173 Hanover

Villa Seligmann

The Villa Seligmann is a unique jewel in Hanover's cultural landscape. It offers high-calibre concert events and conveys the beauty and richness of the great treasure of German-Jewish culture in an incomparable way. At the beginning of the 20th century, Siegmund Seligmann had a prestigious villa built in Hanover's Hohenzollernstrasse, surrounded by spacious gardens. He chose Hermann Schaedtler as his architect. One of the few Hanoverian testimonies to the Jewish bourgeoisie before the Shoah, the villa with its hall and numerous rooms is the ideal location for a house for the documentation, research and communication of Jewish music. It offers space for an archive, library and phonotheque, for instruments and concerts, for exhibitions, lecture series and teaching events.

Hohenzollernstraße 39 | 30161Hanover
www.villa-seligmann.de

City models Hanover

In the main hall of the New Town Hall, city models illustrate the development of Hanover. These models show both Hanover: above in 1939 as a flourishing metropolis and below after the Second World War in 1945. It is difficult to grasp what a picture of horror the bombing nights left behind in Hanover and how they changed the cityscape forever: The first air raids took place in Hanover in May 1940, and further bombing raids destroyed production facilities, residential buildings and architectural monuments (e.g. Conti, Leinschloss, Marktkirche, Opera House, Herrenhausen Palace). After 88 air raids, over 50% of Hanover's buildings are destroyed, in the city centre even over 90% are affected.

After the Second World War, Hanover became a British occupation zone and the painstaking reconstruction began. The bombed-out Aegidienkirche remains as a memorial to the horrors of the Second World War.

Trammplatz 2 | 30159 Hanover

Ahlem Memorial

Remember, inform, educate: Documentation and exhibition on the history of the former Israelite Horticultural School in Ahlem. This central place of learning and remembrance tells of Jewish culture and hope, but also of crime and extermination: from 1893 onwards, Jewish boys and girls were trained in horticulture and trades on Heisterbergallee. Then, in 1941, the Nazis arrived and misused the site as a collection centre for deportations. From 1943, torture - and later murders - were part of everyday life in the "police substitute prison" for forced labourers, political prisoners, Sinti and Roma until the liberation. The new memorial makes both chapters of history visible and is unique in this form in Germany.

Heisterbergallee 10 | 30453 Hanover
www.gedenkstaette-ahlem.de

Holocaust Memorial Opernplatz

The memorial commemorates the 1,930 citizens of Hanover who were racially persecuted and murdered as "Jews" by the National Socialists between 1933 and 1945. Since October 1994, the memorial on Opernplatz in the city centre has commemorated the Jewish victims of National Socialism from Hanover. It was created on the initiative of the "Memoriam" association. The artist Michelangelo Pistoletto designed it in 1993 as a walk-in pyramid. Instead of a spire, it has a passageway in which two people can sit opposite each other. On 25 October 2013, an additional information board was unveiled directly at the memorial. It contains a historical overview, historical background information on Jewish life in Hanover, anti-Semitism and persecution, explanations on the creation of the memorial and information on some of the names on the memorial pyramid.

Opernplatz | 30159 Hanover

The Aegidienkirche

The Aegidienkirche, actually just a churchyard, is one of Hanover's great medieval places of worship. A small chapel probably stood on this site as early as the 10th century, which was replaced by a Romanesque basilica in the 12th century. Part of its west wall is still preserved. Construction of the Gothic hall church began in 1347. The Reformation in Hanover started from this church. The church tower was rebuilt between 1703 and 1717. Between 1826 and 1829, Georg Laves made various changes to the interior of the church.

In 1943, it was destroyed in a hail of bombs down to the outer walls and the baroque tower remains. The ruins are now a memorial to the victims of war and violence. The bells ring four times a day. The Hanoverian sculptor Professor Kurt Lehmann created the sculpture "Humility" in the interior. The peace bell dates back to 1985 and is a gift from the twin city of Hiroshima. A carillon rings daily from the renovated tower - at 9.05 am, 12.05 pm, 3.05 pm and 6.05 pm.

Aegidienkirchhof | 30159 Hanover

The stumbling blocks

"A person is only forgotten when their name is forgotten." - With this thought from the Talmud, Gunter Demnig's Stumbling Stone project sets an example against forgetting. In Hanover, too, the small brass plaques commemorate the victims of National Socialism.

Stolpersteine are small memorial plaques that are embedded in the pavement - directly in front of the last freely chosen homes of people who were persecuted, deported or murdered during the Nazi era. Each plaque states the name, year of birth and fate of the person. The handmade stones are created in Berlin and Gunter Demnig personally lays many of them. Numerous of these memorial plaques can also be found in Hanover - a visible sign of remembrance in the centre of the cityscape.

A culture of remembrance thrives on people's commitment. Anyone who wants to can sponsor a stumbling block for 120 euros. In Hanover, the state capital's remembrance culture project and the German-Israeli Society take care of the applications. One example: Hanoverian magician Desimo has taken on the sponsorship of a Stolperstein in Limmerstraße. It commemorates the magician Ernst Schünemann, who died in 1941 under the inhumane conditions of the Hamelin prison.

All the locations of the Stolpersteine in Hanover can be viewed online. Every Stumbling Stone keeps the memory alive. Keep your eyes open - perhaps you will come across a name on your next walk that must not be forgotten.

Cemetery of Honour Maschsee-Nordufer

The cemetery of honour on the north bank of Lake Maschsee is more than just a memorial - it is a place of living remembrance. Since 2010, the City of Hanover's Municipal Culture of Remembrance has ensured that the memorial is scientifically maintained and further developed. In recent years, more and more people and organisations have become involved in commemorating this special place.

IG Metall in particular has been committed to remembrance work since the 1980s. Young people are also actively involved: IG Metall youth contribute reflections and contributions to the commemorative events on Anti-War Day, while St Ursula School and Bertha von Suttner School have taken on sponsorships for the memorial site. Their pupils not only look after the cemetery of honour, but also take an in-depth look at the history of the Second World War.

Thanks to this commitment, numerous projects have been realised. In 2008 and 2010, history and memorial plaques were erected to provide information about the cemetery's past. Since 2011, international youth encounters have been held every two years in May - a true example of a living European culture of remembrance. In 2015, young people from Russia, Poland, France, Latvia and Greece came to Hanover to learn about the history of the cemetery of honour and present their findings at the commemorative events on 8 May.

The memorial book, which has been on display in the grotto in the New Town Hall since 2012, is a special symbol of remembrance. The names of more than 160 of the 386 people buried in the cemetery of honour were identified in extensive research. Following the principle of "one page, one name, one fate", the book records their stories and makes them accessible to the city's society

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