79th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp
Commemoration ceremony on Sunday, 5 May 2024
Programme
10 a.m.
Anne-Frank-Platz
Welcome
Julia Willie Hamburg (Lower Saxony Minister for Culture and Chairwoman of the Foundation Board of the Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation)
We will offer a bus shuttle from Anne-Frank Platz to POW Cemetery at 10 a.m.
Bergen-Belsen POW Cemetery
Welcome
Dr Elke Gryglewski (Director of the Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation)
Speech
Hanna Naber (President of the Lower Saxony State Parliament)
Music
Choir of Ukrainian Women from Bergen
Silent remembrance
11 a.m.
Bergen-Belsen Memorial
Commemoration at the obelisk
Welcome
Dr Elke Gryglewski (Director of the Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation)
Speech
Michael Fürst with Nicola Fürst-Schuhmacher and Lenny Schuhmacher
Speech
Prof. Dr. Janine Marx-Moyse (Survivor from France, Representative of Amicale des Anciens Déportés de Bergen-Belsen at the Advisory Board of the Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation)
Music
Sebastian Mygo
Recitation of the names of former prisoners who died in the past year
Commemoration at the inscription wall
Commemoration at the high cross
Prayer
Father Thomas Marx
Commemoration at the Jewish monument
Speech
Group of young people from the Jewish Community of Hannover
Kaddish and El Male Rachamim
Cantor Andrej Sitnov (Jewish Community of Hannover)
12.30 a.m.
Documentation Centre
Lunch
Day of Encounters and Reflection
1.30 p.m.
Welcome
Dr Elke Gryglewski
Panel discussion
Carry Polak-de Beer (Survivor from Israel/the Netherlands) Julia Willie Hamburg (Lower Saxony Minister for Culture and Chairwoman of the Foundation Board of the Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation)
Moderator: Dr Elke Gryglewski
(The conversation will be held in English.)
Speeches and music
The panel discussion will be followed by contributions from the following people and groups:
Kantor Yoed Sorek, Regionalgruppe Niedersachsen Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Wegener (Antisemitismusbeauftragter des Landes Niedersachsen), Omas gegen Rechts, Chor der Freien Schule Oberndorf
Moderators: Dr. Elke Gryglewski and Katrin Unger (Deputy Director of Bergen-Belsen Memorial)
From 2.00 p.m.
The following parallel events will take place in pavilions on Anne Frank Square:
Video by a Jehovah's Witness youth group with interviews with former survivors, photo exhibition by young people from the city of Bergen with pictures from a study trip to Auschwitz, remembrance project by Jürgen Kumlehn from Wolfenbüttel
The special exhibition "WAR und ist KRIEG" will be shown in the Forum. The artists Yvonne Salzmann and Sabrina Kaluza will be available for a short introduction to the exhibition as well as discussions and questions.
Other events
Saturday, 4 May 2024, 3 p.m.
Commemoration ceremony with Carry Polak-de Beer (Survivor from Israel/the Netherlands)
Event organised by the Bergen-Belsen Working Group
Location: Bergen-Belsen, Ramp
Note on photography and filming
Photographs and films will be taken during the event. The photographic and film material will be used by the Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation, which is responsible for the Bergen-Belsen Memorial, for public relations purposes, e.g. for publication in print media, on the internet or in social media. Please indicate during the event if you do not wish to be photographed.