An exhibition in Frankfurt portraying with authentic artifacts and documents the life of German youth during the Nazi era, has drawn criticism from some Jewish quarters. Its purpose, according to the directors of the municipal museum, is to depict how youths were seduced by Nazi propaganda and symbols. But, some observers contend, it may be counter-productive. It hasin fact, become a magnet for neo-Nazi groups from all over the Federal Republic.
Jewish critics have not expressed their specific objections in public. The articles displayed give a comprehensive picture of the Germany of the 1930’s and ’40s. Those who mounted the exhibition apparently wanted it to speak for itself and, accordingly explanations and clarifications are rare. The display is there without much commentary.
For that reason, many argue, it could revive nationalistic sentiments and serve as a means for present day Germans to identify with the Nazis. Neo-Nazi groups have already come to the museum on pilgrimages and seem delighted with the exhibition.
Dr. Juergen Steen, a museum official, told an interviewer that he was guided by the purpose of showing the young generation and the general public how the Nazis achieved their popularity with German youth a half century ago. But, he added, the exhibition also stresses the contemporary youth movements which rejected Nazi ideas or even actively opposed Nazi rule.
Displaying “the so-called Nazi aestheticism” is part of making it understandable how the rise of the Nazi movement in Germany became possible, Steen said. He conceded that he and his colleagues foresaw a possibility that the exhibition — one of four on the Third Reich currently at the museum — would attract neo-Nazi elements.
Steen said he knew of three such occasions reported to him by museum guards. In the first two, followers of neo-Nazi leader Michael Kuehnen and members of the neo-Nazi “Viking Jugend” visited the exhibit and were pleased with it. On a third occasion, an unidentified person scrawled an anti-Semitic slogan on the wall. That was the only incident of its kind since the opening, Steen said.
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