Press release: winning project for the Bern memorial site announced
The Network Association and the Supporting Association for the Swiss Memorial for the victims of National Socialism welcome the announcement of the winning project for the memorial site in Bern. The «unfolded minute» memorial will be built on the Casinoterrasse. The memorial site is an important element of the Memorial’s overall concept, which also includes an interpretation site on the national border and a network of institutions and cantons.
At a press conference today, the FDFA presented the project in the presence of Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Bern’s Mayor Marieke Kruit, jury chair Madeleine Schuppli, and the winning team. The jury was won over by the team led by historians Franziska Schürch and Isabel Koellreuter, together with artists Jannik Giger and Rahel Zaugg and architects Andrea Steegmüller and Salomé Gutscher.
The winning project
With «unfolded minute», a multi-part memorial will be built on the Casinoterrasse in Bern: a sound wall makes the individual fates of victims sensorially tangible through one-minute sound sequences. This is complemented by digital information panels offering interpretive content. The contribution creates a memorial site that combines artistic expression with historical interpretation.
Remembering, conveying, connecting
The memorial site in Bern is embedded in the overall Swiss Memorial project, which also includes the planned «Vermittlungszentrum Flucht» (Flight Interpretation Centre) in the St. Gallen Rhine Valley and a Switzerland-wide network. The Supporting Association is closely involved in the realisation of the memorial site in Bern and will take on responsibility for it once construction is complete. The Network Association currently coordinates the other two parts of the project. Together with associated members, an international alliance is growing to commemorate Switzerland at the time of the Second World War and the victims of National Socialism. With the Flight Interpretation Centre, the Memorial will be complemented, on the Swiss national border at Diepoldsau in the canton of St. Gallen, by a modern, transnational site of historical interpretation covering the history of flight into Switzerland nationwide, to be realised in close cooperation with the neighbouring Jewish Museum Hohenems in Austria. The realisation of the Interpretation Centre is closely tied to the partial repurposing, from 2029, of properties currently used by customs. As early as around 2028, the history of flight into Switzerland during the period of National Socialism is to be conveyed through a travelling exhibition at several locations in Switzerland.
The Supporting Association and the Network Association look forward to continuing their cooperation with all parties involved in realising the Swiss Memorial for the victims of National Socialism.
For questions, please contact:
Prof. Dr. Erik Petry, President of the Network Association
Dr. Jonathan Kreutner, Managing Director a. i. of the Network Association, +41 76 394 00 88
Sarah Kahn, Co-President of the Supporting Association
Gabriel Fischer, Managing Director of the Supporting Association, +41 76 412 30 53
You can download the media release here.
