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Memorials to the victims of National Socialist violence, as places of social confrontation with a criminal past, fulfil an important educational task for the present. Their work follows the obligation of our constitution derived from the experiences of National Socialism: "Human dignity is inviolable. It is the duty of all state authorities to respect and protect it" (Article 1 of the Basic Law).

Learning from the history of Nazi crimes also means recognising warning signs in good time when there is a threat of a lasting weakening of our open society. We know from the European history of the 20th century that democracies with standards such as the Basic Law, European and internationally anchored human rights, protection of minorities, equality of all people before the law, the rule of law and the separation of powers were laboriously fought for and must be continuously protected and developed.

Attitudes, opinions and habits of speech are becoming more and more openly established in society, which give rise to fears of a turning away from the fundamental lessons of the Nazi past. We note with concern

    a strengthening of right-wing populist and authoritarian-nationalist movements and parties,
    a widespread rejection of people in need and the questioning and weakening of the right to asylum,
    attacks on basic and human rights,
    an increase in racism, anti-Semitism and other forms of group-based misanthropy,
    a concomitant devaluation of democracy and diversity.

In addition, there is a publicly articulated historical revisionism that attacks the importance of remembering the crimes of National Socialism as a fundamental orientation of German society in the present and wants to replace it with a nationalist self-image.

We counter these current developments with our daily work in historical-political education. But they also require political and civic action. We therefore appeal to the actors in politics and society to preserve the knowledge of historical experiences with exclusionary societies such as National Socialism for the present and to stand up for the defence of the universal validity of fundamental and human rights.

Adopted by the 7th Nationwide Memorial Sites Conference on 13.12.2018 in Berlin