FAU Vice President Hirsch thanks high school students at Sigena Gymnasium for their work
A stumbling threshold (“Stolperschwelle”) in front of the building of the School of Business, Economics and Society at FAU in Findelgasse in Nuremberg has been installed in remembrance of eleven schoolgirls murdered during the Nazi regime and the just over 120 schoolgirls who were expelled from the girls’ high school housed in the building at the time. The remembrance service honored the dedication of high school students at Sigena Gymnasium who initiated the project. Artist Gunter Demnig laid the stumbling threshold. The threshold replaces the usual “Stolpersteine” (stumbling stones) due to the large number of victims.
In his opening speech, Prof. Dr. Andreas Hirsch, Vice President People of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), talked about the historical responsibility of the University. Since taking over the “Hochschule für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften” (School of business and social sciences) in 1961, FAU has not only taken on the building itself, but also its history. “We know that we can no longer save the past, but we want to ensure the present does not forget,” said Hirsch. As chairperson of the Working Group for Memory Culture, he emphasized the importance of regarding history as a task for the future.
Vice President Hirsch thanked Gunter Demnig, Dr. Pascal Metzger from Verein Geschichte Für Alle e.V. and the Bürgerstiftung Nürnberg for their support. He expressed his special thanks to the high school students of Sigena Gymnasium who have sent a clear message against forgetting the events of the past with their dedication.
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