Routes towards Remembrance: Discrimination, Persecution and Resistance

Every year the city of Aachen welcomes tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world. As a 'City of Europe' and situated near the two borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, Aachen is renowned for hosting the World Equestrian Festival CHIO. Much international attention is also paid to the annual award ceremony of the Karlspreis, the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen for work done in the service of European unification. While the history of Charlemagne is widely known and positively contributes to Aachen's image and tourism, little has been published in English about the city's history during the time of National Socialism from 1933 to October 1944, when the Wehrmacht surrendered and gave up the city. We believe that this part of Aachen's history must be related to a more international public so that it does not fall into oblivion. The Nazi crimes as well as the persecution of Jewish and other citizens urge us to remind and remember and preserve their memory. This is why - from the outset - we have wished to publish an international edition of our magazine 'We, the six million'. We chose English as a lingua franca and therefore call this issue 'Routes towards Remembrance'. This issue offers a collection of articles, often with a focus on regional history. Readers are invited to look closer into the topics, events and personalities presented here. Special emphasis is put on escape and migration, persecution, and displacement as well as resistance and the assistance to refugees. Another focus lies on the documentation of Nazi tyranny in and around Aachen. For many years now, the initiative of 'Routes towards Remembrance' has researched and shared their insights with citizens of all ages. This has led to places of commemoration and extensive educational programmes against forgetting, against antisemitism and violence, and against any trivialisation of National Socialism.