BMJ

The Rosenburg - The Federal Ministry of Justice in the Shadow of the Nazi Past

Insights into the exhibition: Between light and shadows

The exhibition is a part of the effort by the Federal Ministry of Justice to address its Nazi past. It shines light on what was previously in the shadows.

Ein Ausstellungsobjekt der Ausstellung: Ein großer Aktenstapel in dem Schubladen versteckt sind.
Gesamtansicht der Ausstellung.
Detailansicht einer Ausstellungsstele.
Eine Schreibmaschine mit einem Blatt Papier auf dem steht:
Die Rosenburg - Das Bundesjustizministerium im Schatten der NS-Vergangenheit
Die Rosenburg - Das Bundesjustizministerium im Schatten der NS-Vergangenheit

Travelling exhibition

The Exhibition

What inspired the exhibition? The Federal Ministry of Justice in the Shadow of National Socialism


The exhibition is a part of the effort by the Federal Ministry of Justice to address its Nazi past. It shines light on what was previously in the shadows.

„Of the 170 jurists in senior positions in the Ministry from 1949 to 1973, 90 had been members of the Nazi Party, and 34 had belonged to the SA. More than 15 percent had been employed by the Reich Ministry of Justice itself before 1945. These figures help illustrate why, in the early days of the new Federal Republic, the prosecution of Nazi crimes was stifled, the suffering of victims was ignored, and minorities such as homosexuals or Sinti and Roma were subjected to renewed discrimination."
Dr. Marco Buschmann, Federal Minister of Justice

We have not yet finished addressing Germany’s National Socialist past; many open questions remain. We are all a part of this process – we learn from the mistakes of the past in order to prevent them in the future.

Public History

Bringing Light into the Darkness Public History – Creating Transparency by Involving the Public

The project initiated by the Federal Ministry of Justice forms part of a series of efforts pursued by federal ministries and government authorities to investigate and reassess this chapter of the German past. Some of these projects have already been concluded while others are still ongoing. The Rosenburg Project is nevertheless breaking new ground. Rather than being designed exclusively for historians and a limited audience of experts sitting in the “ivory tower” of scholarly research, it strives to involve the whole of society in terms of writing public history and encouraging people to critically engage with the work being done. Beyond the research itself and the resulting insights, the aim is to initiate a broad critical discussion with major emphasis being placed on transparency. This is particularly significant when considering one of the project's main target groups – those who were persecuted by the National Socialists and their descendants

Numerous events of critical history have already been carried out by the Independent Academic Commission in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Justice. The exhibition constitutes another building block of this public examination of history.

There have also been discussions about the Rosenburg Project with numerous groups and individuals. Apart from associations representing the legal professions (such as the German Federation of Judges and the Association of German Attorneys), these include the various Jewish associations (headed by the Central Council of Jews in Germany) as well as the International Auschwitz Committee and the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma.

rosenburg_tab_2

The heads of the Independent Academic Commission have also conducted talks with constitutional judges from Latin America and subsequent Nobel Peace Prize winners from Tunisia. In addition, various groups of students and other young people from Germany and abroad were invited to the Federal Ministry to discuss the Rosenburg Project with then-Minister Maas (including a group of senior pupils from the Ida-Ehre-Schule in Hamburg who had been awarded the Bertini Prize for young people demonstrating civic courage).

About the Research Project

Critical academic study About the Rosenburg Project at the Federal Ministry of Justice

On 11 January 2012, the Federal Ministry of Justice set up an Independent Academic Commission for the Critical Study of the National Socialist Past chaired by Professor Manfred Görtemaker (Professor of Contemporary History, University of Potsdam) and Christoph Safferling (Professor of Criminal Law, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg).

 The Federal Ministry of Justice had its seat in the Rosenburg Villa in Bonn-Kessenich from 1950 to 1973. The Federal Ministry of Justice had its seat in the Rosenburg Villa in Bonn-Kessenich from 1950 to 1973.

The Independent Academic Commission was charged with studying the continuity in terms of both personnel and approach that extended from the German Nazi era to the governmental activities of the Federal Ministry of Justice in the post-war era of the 1950s and 1960s. During that time, the Federal Ministry of Justice had its official seat in the Rosenburg Villa in Bonn-Kessenich, which lent the project its name.

The Independent Academic Commission is thus looking at how the Federal Ministry of Justice dealt with its own National Socialist past. This is closely linked to the question of continuities in terms of personnel at the Ministry. How many employees in the Ministry's early post-war phase had been actively involved with the National Socialists? Who were they? What positions did they hold?

The Commission furthermore aims to establish whether this resulted in continuities of approach which tainted the Ministry’s work. For instance, how was it possible for Nazi law and jurisprudence to remain valid in the post-war era and not be repealed or overturned? What was the Ministry's stance towards the prosecution of Nazi criminals? Why were certain instruments – such as compensation for the victims of Nazi injustice – not used?

The heads of the Independent Academic Commission are tackling this broad range of issues in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of experts including Professor Thiessen (Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen – for the field of economic law), Professor Schumann (Georg August University of Göttingen – primarily for the field of family and juvenile law) and Professor Will (EBS University of Wiesbaden – for the field of constitutional law).

Events & Contact

The travelling exhibition will be shown at various locations. Entrance is free of charge.


Exhibition locations:

7th of March 2023 – 16 of April 2023
Regierungspräsidium Karlsruhe am Rondellplatz
Karl-Friedrich-Str. 17
76133 Karlsruhe

Opening Hours
Monday to Friday 11:00am - 6pm


Past exhibitions:

Potsdam
7.11. - 04.02.2023

Hannover
15.06. - 29.08. 2022

Esterwegen
23.01. - 15.05.2022

Saarbrücken
25.11.2021 - 17.01.2022

Nürnberg
06.07. - 25.08.2021

Rügen/ Prora
24.07. - 11.10.2020

Technische Universität Chemnitz
13.01. - 05.03.2020

Poznan, Poland
10.01.2020- 20.02.2020

Krakau, Poland
28.10.2019- 02.12.2019

Universität Frankfurt/Main
16.10.2019 - 7.01.2020

Wroclaw, Poland
29.08.2019- 04.10.2019

George Washington University, USA
06.02 - 15.03.2019

The John Hopkins University, USA
28.03. – 01.05.2019

Supreme Court New York, USA
13.05. - 07.06.2019


Contact person:
Federal Ministry of Justice
Isabel Hanke
Publicity Division/Digital communication
Phone +49 30-18580-9037
hanke-is@bmj.bund.de