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Berlin / Frankfurt (dpa) - Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters wants to "dare to dare more history of democracy" and to get key locations of democratic development "out of their shadowy existence".
"Precisely because our democracy was built on the ruins of the National Socialist dictatorship, precisely because we want to draw lessons for the future from the memory of the Holocaust and the victims of totalitarian dictatorships, we should make places of German democratic history more visible," wrote the CDU -Politician in an article for the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" on Tuesday.
Nationally significant events promoted "the critical examination of the fundamentals of living together in a free society" and strengthened "the emotional bond and thus also the identification with our democracy", according to Grütters.
A foundation based in Frankfurt is to coordinate and bundle the federal funding measures for the places of the history of democracy.
In addition, Grütters wants to present a concept for a “sustainable structure” in order to bring places such as the Paulskirche in Frankfurt, the Rastatt memorial for the freedom movements or the Hambach Castle Foundation “more into the light of public awareness”.
In the words of the Minister of State for Culture, a prerequisite for the location is “that one dares to dare to see more democratic history in and with today's Paulskirche”.
Grütters: "Germany has so far been giving up the chance to use this key location in our history of freedom as a place of learning for our democracy."
A careful renovation of the post-war architecture is not enough.
That is why the Paulskirche should be placed alongside a “House of Democracy” as a place of communication and reflection “for a critical examination of the history of German democracy”.
Grütters announced a specific proposal by 2023.
Then the revolution of 1848 associated with the Paulskirche will be 175 years old.