“Modern culture of remembrance” in the District of Düren: The “permanent exhibition” on the Hürtgen war cemetery (Published on 20/12/2023)
I. The “permanent exhibition” on the Hürtgen war cemetery
On 20/07/2021, the District of Düren issued a press release informing about a “new permanent exhibition on the Hürtgen war cemetery”, which would complement it “from now on”.
According to the press release, this “permanent exhibition” was commissioned by the District of Düren and was created “with the support of Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, the city and district archives of Düren and the University of Osnabrück”.
In the press release, the purpose of the exhibition was explained as follows (translation from German language):
“War cemeteries are places of remembrance and commemoration. And as historical sites, they also need to be explained, especially for future generations. This is the purpose of the exhibition, which should also be of interest to schoolchildren.”
And who created the exhibition? The press release explains (translation from German language):
“The Cologne historian and district representative for the Hürtgen and Vossenack war cemeteries, Frank Möller, is responsible for the texts and research. The exhibition was designed by graphic designer Eva Müller-Hallmanns from Hürtgenwald.”
As is known, Mr Möller is the District of Düren’s so-called “representative for the care of the war grave sites Vossenack and Hürtgen as places of a democratic culture of remembrance and commemoration” (“Beauftragter für die Betreuung der Kriegsgräberstätten Vossenack und Hürtgen als Orten einer demokratischen Erinnerungs- und Gedenkkultur”).
II. Inquiries to the District of Düren about the costs of the “permanent exhibition”
The operator of these pages was interested in the background to this exhibition and the costs incurred by the District for it. In September 2022, based on the Freedom of Information Act of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (“IFG NRW”), he requested from it information on the following questions as to the “permanent exhibition” (translation from German language):
“1. What costs has the District of Düren incurred so far for the permanent exhibition?
2. What are the individual items that make up the costs under item 1. and what are their respective amounts?
3. What was or is the nature of the support in question
a) of Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge,
b) the city and district archives of Düren and
c) the University of Osnabrück
for the permanent exhibition?
4. Did Mr Möller receive or does he receive remuneration for his contribution to the permanent exhibition? If so, what is the extent of this remuneration?”
In its communication dated 31/10/2022, the District administration stated that the District had incurred costs of “a total of €5,768.80 gross” for the exhibition to date. These costs were divided into “three individual items” with cost shares as follows (translation from German language):
“Costs totaling €3,500.00 gross were incurred for topic research, image research, text creation and coordination with the District of Düren and Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge.
The graphic design and image editing of the plaque in the indoor area incurred gross costs of €1,937.80.
Costs of €321.00 were incurred for the design of the information board in the entrance area.”
The District administration did not wish to comment on the question of whether Mr Möller receives remuneration for his involvement in the permanent exhibition and, if so, to what extent. This would involve Mr Möller’s “personal information”, which could presently only be disclosed with his consent. According to the District administration, Mr Möller denied this consent, but offered that I “contact him personally in this regard”.
In response to a supplementary request under the IFG NRW for the exact composition of the “€ 3,500.00 gross” cost block, the District administration stated in a communication dated 20/12/2022 (translation from German language):
“The costs of € 3,500.00 were a lump sum offer for topic research, image research, text creation and coordination with the District of Düren and Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge. There was no specific allocation to the individual items.”
It subsequently emerged that the person responsible at the District administration, Karl-Josef Mainz, had been sent a draft of the exhibition together with a cost calculation by email in January 2020. The District administration made the documents accessible by communication dated 19/07/2023, however, again making various redactions for the protection of personal information; as the persons concerned had refused to give their consent to the disclosure of the data in question. Thus, all references to the origin of the offer and the person(s) involved were made unrecognizable and cannot be inferred from it.
Interestingly, the total amount of EUR 7,265.46 shown in the cost calculation for the creation of the “permanent exhibition” is around EUR 1,500 higher than the total costs of “EUR 5,768.80 gross” stated by the District of Düren in its original communication of 31/10/2022. Apparently the cost item “Digitaldruck (…)” [“digital printing (…)”] for EUR 1,506.66 gross is missing from the latter amount – for an unknown reason.
III. Assessment
It is not clear why this information on an exhibition commissioned under public law and paid for from public funds cannot simply be communicated transparently to an interested citizen, but instead requires extensive correspondence over a period of around ten months. In any case, it shows once again what kind of minds the protagonists at the District of Düren are.
(Head picture: Site where US soldier Robert Cahow was discovered in Raffelsbrand,
at that time surrounded by trees, in March 2022)
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