Gedenken und Informieren: Zur Genese, Konzeption und Rezeption der Wanderausstellung "'Was damals Recht war ...' - Soldaten und Zivilisten vor Gerichten der Wehrmacht"

The article explicates the origin, conceptualisation and reception of the travelling exhibition ‘What was Deemed Fully Legal at the Time …’ – Soldiers and Civilians tried before Nazi Military Courts which opened in Berlin in June 2007. The exhibition is the first one to focus on the plight of victims of Nazi military justice whose brutal persecution during the Third Reich was followed by decades of discrimination in post-war Germany and Austria. It took almost 60 years until the victims were granted pardon in 2002, after a year long struggle for legal rehabilitation. The article analyses the intentions and aims of the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Berlin) to produce a show about the deeds of the military judges and their countless victims. A virtual tour through the exhibition demonstrates its underlying conception as well as the didactic goals and explains how both are manifested in narrative structure and architectural design. By providing both information and a room for commemoration, the show positions itself between historiography, political education, restitution practise and memorial culture.