Contribution to memorial week as part of the #WeRemember 2024 campaign
The Finkelstein Foundation contributed to historical remembrance culture at Bayer AG by organizing a couple of events. This happened during the memorial week before the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In addition, together with Advisory Council members and other colleagues the Foundation took part in the World Jewish Congress #WeRemember through Bayer Social Media channels posts.
“A Song Goes Around the World”: a concert dedicated to the memory of Joseph Schmidt
A touching evening in memory of Joseph Schmidt and other victims of the Holocaust took place. About a hundred guests, including employees and external visitors, came to the concert at the Vienna Cafe in Berlin. Singer Sungho Kim, musician of the Dortmund opera orchestra and winner of the 2023 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, paid tribute to Joseph Schmidt by choosing the songs that made him famous. Among them are works by Franz Schubert, Giacomo Puccini and Franz Lehár. Ulrike Payer, a laureate of many international competitions, accompanied Sungho Kim on the piano.
Singer Sungho Kim, musician of the Dortmund opera orchestra and winner of the 2023 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. Piano accompaniment by Ulrike Payer. © Ben Suhling
Annemarie Huehne-Ramm, Director of the Finkelstein Foundation, Bella Zchwiraschwili, Representative of the World Jewish Congress and member of the Foundation’s Advisory Council, Christoph Boehmke, Bayer Cultural Engagement, and Miriam Frydling, World Jewish Congress. © Ben Suhling
About a hundred guests, including employees and external visitors, attended the concert at the Vienna Cafe near the Bayer’s headquarters in Berlin. © Ben Suhling
Finkelstein Lecture - Jewish life in Germany today
As part of the memorial week, the Finkelstein Foundation introduced the “Finkelstein Lectures.” Talks and presentations on current social and historical topics are organized mainly for Bayer employees. In the future, projects supported by the Foundation will be also presented there.
During the lecture on January 24, a Jewish employee shared the history of his family, his relationship to it and his life as a Jew in Germany now. He also expressed his opinion about the historical revision of the topic and the current situation in terms of anti-Semitism in Germany. The Finkelstein Foundation thanked him for his willingness to support the lectures and for his readiness to open up.
Finkelstein Lecture - I.G. Farben and Buna-Monowitz Concentration Camp
Overview of the construction site of the Buna synthesis plant at I.G. site Auschwitz-Monowitz, 1943/44 © Frankfurt a.M., Fritz Bauer Institute
During the Second World War, in 1941, I.G. Farben opened a chemical plant close to the Auschwitz concentration camp. To supply the largest construction site in National Socialist Germany at that time with forced labor, the concentration camp Buna-Monowitz was organized. The company acted in cooperation with the SS. On January 27, 1945, the camp was liberated by the Red Army. Thore Grimm and Fabian Engel from Bayer's Heritage Communications were the speakers; about 250 participants attended their two lectures. The historians made the participants acquainted with the history of the I.G. Farben, its activities at Monowitz and remembrance culture at Bayer.
Such lectures contribute to anchoring remembrance culture in the company in a sustainable way, as history shows us that democracy and European unity is not something self-evident. History also demonstrates what kind of lessons we can take from it today.
