With Kassel participation: Critical "Garrison Church Learning Site" in Potsdam

The learning site is located in the Art and Culture House in the former GDR computer center in the immediate vicinity of the construction site of the Garrison Church Tower. The initiators are opposed to the reconstruction of the church in its planned form.

"The learning site is dedicated in a first documentation to the radical right-wing inscriptions in the reconstruction project initiated in the 1980s," explains Prof. Philipp Oswalt of the University of Kassel. This, he says, is based on a year of research in a number of archives. "It also sheds light on the background of the controversial Iserlohn carillon, which was shut down by the city of Potsdam about a year ago after 28 years of operation because of its right-wing extremist inscriptions." He points out that "the problem cannot be limited to the carillon, the removal of which is now being discussed in city politics. The former Traditionsgemeinschaft Potsdamer Glockenspiel, which is increasingly influenced by right-wing forces, not only initiated the reconstruction project of the Garrison Church and helped it to achieve a breakthrough. The ideas of the Traditionsgemeinschaft continue to have an effect on the project to this day."

The opening on Saturday, September 5, 7 pm is embedded in the 5-year anniversary of the art and creative house Rechenzentrum. The initiators want to make a statement at the same time for the preservation of this place.

According to the organizers, the institution will devote itself to changing themes in the coming years. For 2021, a focus on the Protestant bishop Otto Dibelius and Protestant nationalism is planned; in 2022, a critical examination of the military regiments of the Semper Talis tradition is to follow; while in 2023, the monarchical dimension of the Garrison Church and the role of the Hohenzollerns will be the topic.

The learning space in the computer center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.. A visit on weekends is possible on request at: besuch[at]lernort-garnisonkirche[dot]de. The place is accompanied by a digital place on the Internet at the address: www.lernort-garnisonkirche.de.

Philipp Oswalt is head of the Department of Architectural Theory and Design at the University of Kassel. From 2009 to 2014, he was also director of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation.

Contact:

Prof. Philipp Oswalt
University of Kassel
E-mail: oswalt[at]asl.uni-kassel[dot]de

Press contact:

Sebastian Mense
University of Kassel
Communications, Press and Public Relations
Tel.: +49 561 804-1961
E-mail: presse[at]uni-kassel[dot]de
www.uni-kassel.de