The Elisabeth Käsemann Foundation is campaigning for a critical examination of authoritarian regimes and conflicts of the past and their consequences for societies in Latin America, Spain and Germany.
By promoting a transnational dialog about the mechanisms of autocratic systems and structures, the foundation aims to support democratic culture across borders and an intercultural understanding between Germany and the Spanish-speaking world. To achieve the foundation’s objectives, we organize and partner with other projects on a scientific, educational and cultural level.
Initiatives:
- The Elisabeth Käsemann symposiums in Germany and Latin America provide an international forum for representatives from the worlds of science, politics and culture to discuss new approaches of communicating the past to society and to succeeding generations. Understanding how authoritarian structures and violent conflicts evolve can help prevent attitudes that try to qualify and play down rising anti-democratic tendencies in society today.
- With the working groups Memoria-Legal Working Group and Memoria-Grupo de Trabajo Sitios de Memoria the Elisabeth Käsemann Foundation is providing German and Latin American experts in the fields of legal processing and pedagogical communication of crimes against humanity the opportunity of a regular moderated exchange of expertise.
- In our intercultural school projects, we encourage young people from Germany, Latin America and Spain to examine and discuss their own country’s past in a constructive way with peers from other countries. The insights gained through these projects are intended to reinforce the importance of human rights as a universal norm and promote democratic awareness in school students.
- By supporting the El Vesubio memorial site in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the foundation aims to provide succeeding generations and visitors an opportunity to experience history in all its reality and to acutely reflect on past injustices.