Survive, tell, remember: Exhibition about the massacre of Sant'Anna
80 years after an SS massacre in the Italian town of Sant'Anna di Stazzema, the student project "ÜberLeben erzählen" focuses on the stories of survivors. On site and in class, students from the University of Konstanz developed an exhibition that was shown in Sant'Anna di Stazzema from 11 to 25 August 2024. The project was supported by forum.konstanz at the University of Konstanz.
An unpunished massacre from the Second World War: On 12 August 1944, the SS invaded the Italian village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema and killed up to 560 people, including around 130 children. As late as 2004, ten perpetrators were sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy, but were not extradited by Germany. The corresponding proceedings were dropped by the German public prosecutors in 2012 and none of the perpetrators were brought to justice. How to process atrocities? How to tell stories of injustice? How to keep the memory alive?
The multimedia exhibition "ÜberLeben erzählen" was shown from 11 to 25 August 2024 in Sant'Anna di Stazzema to commemorate the massacre that took place 80 years ago. In the German city of Stuttgart, where the judiciary decided to discontinue the proceedings, the exhibition will be on display at the StadtPalais from 20 November to 5 December 2024.
The exhibition was developed as part of an interdisciplinary exhibition and teaching project at the University of Konstanz, supported by forum.konstanz. The two lecturers, literary scholar Sarah Seidel and anthropologist Maria Lidola, travelled to the site of the war crime together with their students in May 2024 and documented in sound, image and film the stories of the contemporary witnesses, their descendants, as well as legal and political actors. In seminars at the university, they looked into the subject of remembrance, such as the role of memorial sites and how people can come to terms with the past through art, music and literature. The students also considered the aspect of silence.
"Time is a central category in this project: you can see that in the long silence of the massacre's survivors, but also of politicians and the judiciary. We want to give this silence as much space as the stories", explains anthropologist Maria Lidola. "The interdisciplinary collaboration is very enriching, as it allows us to relate key topics to each other from different perspectives."
Literary scholar Sarah Seidel emphasizes: "The exhibition project 'ÜberLeben erzählen' is so important because the foundations of the cultural studies theory of memory and remembrance, which Konstanz has significantly influenced, have practical relevance. Our students experience the importance of cultural studies research in their project work".
Key facts:
Exhibition "ÜberLeben erzählen", 11 to 25 August 2024 in Sant'Anna di Stazzema and from 20 November to 5 December 2024 at StadtPalais in Stuttgart
Project leader: Sarah Seidel, literary scholar at the University of Konstanz, and Maria Lidola, anthropologist at the University of Konstanz, in collaboration with Petra Quintini, co-initiator of the "Campo della Pace"
Supported by forum.konstanz of the University of Konstanz
Aims of the project: Exploring the possibilities of storytelling, remembrance and commemoration with a focus on survivors' stories and coming to terms with events
Project activities: Seminar "Erinnern und Gedenken. Das Unbeschreibliche erzählen" (Sarah Seidel) and seminar "Narrative Ethnographie" (Maria Lidola); excursion to Sant’Anna di Stazzema from 10 to 17 May 2024, study of eyewitness accounts as well as of legal and political action
