8 October 2025 | Chemnitz
Digitalization fundamentally shapes how memory is preserved and history is conveyed. Digital archives, AI-supported witness interviews, and holographic representations create new access points to historical experiences. At the same time, they present us with central challenges: How can historical testimonies be communicated digitally without being subjected to the logic of platforms and algorithms? What significance do physical memorial sites have when remembrance increasingly takes place virtually?
The CPPD Festival „Memory Matters“ on October 8, 2025, in Chemnitz addressed these questions in cooperation with OFFENER PROZESS – A Documentation Center on the NSU Complex. In the European Capital of Culture 2025, memory, transformation, and social discourse meet in immediate ways.
The core of the festival was the panel discussion „Practices of Remembrance in Digital Spaces“ with Dr. Jonas Fegert, Nhi Le, and Susanne Siegert, moderated by Benjamin Fischer. The discussion examined how memory culture is changing in digital publics and what ethical and political responsibilities accompany this shift. Susanne Siegert, journalist and influencer, illuminated the difficulties of adapting historical research for social media – in the tension between generating attention on the one hand and the danger of oversimplification and sensationalization on the other. She emphasized the potential of digital platforms while stressing that institutions must develop flexible and adaptive memory-political strategies in times of continuous paradigm shifts to reach younger generations. Jonas Fegert highlighted that research on information systems and social networks is directly linked to democratic processes and minority rights, as digital platforms increasingly shape social discourse and memory cultures. He warned that algorithmic structures and synthetic media can emotionalize and manipulate content, profoundly influencing public perception and democratic processes. Nhi Le directed attention to post-migrant perspectives and the question of how digital publics can give voice to marginalized communities.
The panel concluded with concrete references to best-practice examples, as well as the demand for stronger political focus on state-supported digital infrastructure. This should enable democratic communication cultures and inclusive forms of collective memory in social networks and counteract anti-democratic tendencies. Particularly regarding the generational gap, transdisciplinary approaches can open new ways to understand history as a dynamic space of experience, in which participation becomes a reflective and participatory process, thereby strengthening accountability and contextualization.
In parallel, a network meeting took place with actors from regional and nationwide memory initiatives. The focus was on exchange and collaboration on projects and resources, particularly where memory work is increasingly being transferred to digital spaces. The development of fictional digital projects made clear how crucial well- designed processes are to involve and engage young target groups. A tour through the “Offener Prozess“ exhibition and the workshop „re:member the future“ provided insights into the documentation center‘s communication approaches and showed how digital interventions in urban spaces commemorate those murdered by the NSU – in a city that has not established an official memorial site to this day.
The Dynamic Memory Lab presented a condensed version of the exhibition „Nước Đức“ in the curatorial area of OFFENER PROZESS – A Documentation Center on the NSU Complex. A curator-led tour with Nina Reiprich and Dan Thy Nguyen illustrated how Vietnamese-German memory narratives unfold between flight, contract labor, experien-ces of violence, and self-empowerment – and how closely questions of digital memory, belonging, and social visibility are interwoven.
The festival underscored that memory culture in the digital age requires new forms of communication and structures of responsibility. Digital spaces can expand historical experiences but must not replace real encounters and physical sites. Memory remains – even in digital contexts – a societal task that demands continuous attention, adaptability, institutional responsibility, and public support.
Fotos: Natalia Reich
