BERGEN-BELSEN, Germany — Habbo Knoch, who runs the new Bergen-Belsen Memorial at the former concentration camp, invited various scholars and museum directors to a four-day conference here last week called “Witnessing: Sites of Destruction and the Representation of the Holocaust.” He asked a question one evening during a break: “Will people in 20 years look back and say we built a museum that focuses on Nazi genocide while Darfur was happening? Will they ask whether anyone raised this issue?”

Consider it raised.

The new memorial is an immense concrete and glass museum emerging from a copse of trees beside the cemetery of mass graves (there are more than 70,000 bodies buried there), which had been the camp site. The permanent exhibition is a model of its kind, focused on the meticulous and sober reconstruction of the past. From time to time the present literally intrudes with a bang, though, when practice rounds of tank fire from the British military base next door boom over the treetops.

VIEW COMPLETE STORY HERE:

Abroad – The Bergen-Belsen Memorial Museum Views the Holocaust Not From Then but From the Here and Now – NYTimes.com.

GERMANY OFFERS OBAMA DEEPER PARTNERSHIP

By Frank-Walter Steinmeier

In a letter to Barack Obama, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier offers the US president-elect a “new dimension of
cooperation” in trans-Atlantic relations. He foresees the US and Europe standing shoulder to shoulder and says Germany will “step up its contribution” to help create a stable Iraq.

Beethoven: The Face of a Genius

In the 230 odd years since Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth, hundreds of
artists have been inspired by him. Perhaps due to his stern and
powerful features, artists of all kinds have represented Beethoven
visually, ranging from portraits painted during his lifetime to
Hollywood movies.

by Sylvia Poggioli

The first in a three-part series

Morning Edition, January 12, 2009 · In Europe, Barack Obama’s election as president of the United States was met with euphoria. But now, the continent is peering into the mirror, realizing there is little chance a member of one of its own minorities could reach such prominence any time soon.

German Minorities Still Fight To Be Seen, Heard : NPR.