The case study of the logistics group Kühne+Nagel and its consequences

4 sqm Truth

taz from 9/10/2023

The genesis of the project

»4 QM TRUTH« - From the CAMPAIGN to the building

• Kühne+Nagel celebrates its 125th anniversary on Bremen’s market square in 2015 and showcases the company’s history. The taz investigates the missing facts, including the company’s significant involvement in the transportation of the furnishings of the deported Jewish population throughout Western Europe

• Crowdfunding: 27,003 euros are collected for the purchase of 4 square meters of land on the square where K+N wants to erect its new building as a memorial site

• Design competition: taz collects ideas on how »the totality of the ‘utilization’ of Jewish property could be visualized in the form of a memorial. Among the 60 participants from all over Germany and Austria are both well-known artists and school classes. The competition triggers numerous family biographical questions and discussions. A jury of experts put Evin Oettingshausen’s design in first place.

• Exhibition in the Bürgerschaft: »Traces of robbery - ideas for a Bremen ‘Aryanization’ memorial«.

• taz symposium: »Aryanization« - on dealing with the legacy of injustice

• All parliamentary groups decide to build the memorial in November 2016

• Long struggle for the »right« location: should the memorial be located at K+N, at the Europahafen, at the youth hostel or somewhere in between?

• Dynamics: Parallel to the political process, artistic actions, temporary memorials, international exhibition contributions, regional novels, radio reports and master’s theses are created, triggered by »4 square meters of truth«

• Result: In February 2022, the Bremen Senate decides to build the memorial at the Weser-Arkaden, it will be inaugurated on September 10, 2023.

• Review and overview: taz.de/mahnmal

Blanks and gaps in history:

Bremen’s role in the »utilization« of Jewish property

The erection of an »Aryanization« memorial has been discussed in Bremen since 2015, and now the time has come: it was inaugurated on 10 September and focuses on the systematic plundering of the Jewish population on the banks of the Weser, between the Wilhelm Kaisen Bridge and the Weser Arcades.

The memorial focuses on Bremen’s special role as a port and logistics location in the »utilization« of Jewish property. This was partly due to the forced mass emigration of Jewish families via Bremerhaven. In particular, however, Bremen profited from the removal of Jewish property from the occupied countries of Western Europe (»Aktion M«). The freight forwarding company Kühne+Nagel, whose company anniversary in 2015 triggered the memorial debate, was significantly involved.

Kühne+Nagel successfully sought to play a central role in the removal of Jewish property, both as part of »Aktion M« and in the southern European port cities. The internationalization of the company thus followed in the footsteps of the Wehrmacht: the network of branches in the conquered countries served as the logistical basis for the looting, while at the same time the company developed the military logistics business segment - in which it still plays a leading role today. In other words, Kuehne + Nagel owes its involvement during the Nazi era a great deal of developmental impetus to this day.

Unsurprisingly, none of this was mentioned at the company’s big anniversary celebration on Bremen’s market square, where the company’s history was presented in a history truck. But even when explicitly asked, corporate communications explained that the 1930s and 1940s were »not relevant to the company’s history«.

The Kühne+Nagel case is an anachronism - but at the same time it points to a current problem: the failure of society as a whole to deal with the unpleasant topic of »Aryanization«, which enriched large sections of the population alongside the National Socialist state and the logisticians of this »exploitation«. Many private households in Bremen also had - and in some cases still have - furniture and pianos, paintings and lamps, everyday objects such as cutlery belonging to Jewish families who were driven into exile, whose lives were destroyed, whose possessions were »utilized« and whose traces were eliminated. The memorial also addresses these dimensions of the unjust legacy.

The memorial will be located in the heart of the city, on the Weser, where cargo ships brought enormous quantities of looted furniture from the Netherlands and household goods of all kinds to Bremen. The design by Evin Oettingshausen, which has been approved by the city council on a cross-party basis, consists of a shaft almost six meters deep, which initially shows nothing but emptiness - the apparent absence of history, its forgetting and repression. At the bottom, however, light can be seen from the side. If you then descend to the banks of the Weser, you will recognize shadowy outlines on the walls of the shaft: In this way, the installation addresses the totality of the robbery of the Jewish population, which directly preceded the mass murder. Their homes were completely cleared out and all the possessions of the deportees were »disposed of« at »Jewish auctions«, among other things.

Elvira Noa, Chairwoman of the Jewish Community of Bremen, was part of the expert jury that proposed the design, which Oettingshausen had submitted to the taz ideas competition in 2016 under the title »Leerstellen und Geschichtslücken« (see box), for realization. Commenting on the location of the memorial at Kaisenbrücke, which was found after long discussions about a suitable location, she says: »This place is very conducive to commemoration. « The surroundings fit. The »simplicity and clarity of the walls« provide space to add the memorial as a confrontation with the past.

According to a decision by the Bremen Parliament, all those who contributed to the persecution of Jewish citizens should contribute to the construction of the memorial: the public sector, companies and private households. While the interior of the memorial, as its artistic and conceptual core, is financed by private donations, the city and businesses are providing funds to make the construction work possible. The total costs amount to 476,000 euros.

The appeal for donations was first signed by 210 people who have been interested in and committed to the project since efforts to create a memorial began in 2015 - numerous Bremen residents as well as international experts from the fields of political education, visual arts and history. This demonstrates both the supra-local professional support for the cause and the concrete backing that the project has gained in Bremen’s urban society.

The appeal for donations for the »Aryanization« memorial was more successful than expected. Within just ten days, the 40,000 euros needed to design the interior of the memorial were collected from civil society. With the start of the Russian war against Ukraine, the fundraising was stopped shortly afterwards, but a total of 61,671.86 euros in private funds are now available for the memorial construction.

Henning Bleyl, who initiated the memorial project as a former taz editor and has been involved in its implementation on a voluntary basis since leaving the taz, once again explains the background to the memorial initiative: »By completely clearing out the apartments and houses of Jewish people, their living spaces and traces of their lives were destroyed. At the same time, the complete »utilization« of their property served to secure their rule: the Nazi state also functioned as a ‘community of loot’. Bremen’s special role in this lies in the Europe-wide logistics of the »utilization« of Jewish property. The memorial focuses on this long ignored role.«

Evin Oettingshausen points to further necessary steps: »The construction of the memorial is a good first step towards drawing attention to the multi-layered dimensions of Nazi expropriation contexts. In my opinion, the next steps should definitely include a multi-perspective approach to the cultural work of remembrance on the consequences of National Socialist dispossession and further scientific and substantive work, for example on the profiteers.«

Henning Bleyl

In April 2019, there was a joint press conference with Elvira Noa, the chairwoman of the Jewish community in Bremen, at the Tiefer

Press release:

A new location is being proposed for consideration for the erection of the »Aryanization« memorial, which was approved by the city parliament in 2016 and is intended to commemorate Bremen’s special role in the logistics of »recycling« Jewish property from all over Europe: it is to be built between the arcades at Tiefer and the eastern side of the Wilhelm Kaisen Bridge. This idea was presented today at a press conference at which the Jewish Community of Bremen was also represented.

The design, which has been approved for implementation by the city council on a cross-party basis, consists of two viewing shafts that meet at right angles: Viewed from above, only an empty space can be seen, symbolizing the forgetting of history. From the side, however, silhouettes of former furnishings can be seen. This installation thematizes the total robbery of the Jewish population, which directly preceded the mass murder. Their homes were completely cleared out and all the possessions of the deportees were »disposed of« at »Jewish auctions«, among other things.

For Evin Oettingshausen, responsible for the memorial concept, the memorial on the Kaisen Bridge is easier to implement than on the steps of the Schlachte, where it is currently planned. The reason for this is the significant difference in the height of the terrain offset: »While we can achieve a height of 3.15 meters at the Schlachte steps through modifications, there is a height of around 6 meters here,« said Oettingshausen at the press conference. »The resulting vertical viewing shaft symbolizes the gaps in history, its depth points to the multi-layered traces of the expropriation contexts.« This is an »invitation to broaden one’s perspective«, which can be expressed even more adequately on the bridge than on the steps.

Elvira Noa, Chairwoman of the Jewish Community of Bremen, also advocates the realization of the memorial on the Kaisenbrücke: »This location is very conducive to remembrance,« said Noa at the press conference.

The arcades were used as a crane platform for unloading inland waterway vessels Much of the looted Jewish property from Amsterdam and Antwerp, for example, was also transported in inland waterway vessels.

Henning Bleyl, who initiated the memorial project as a taz editor and is now involved in its implementation on a voluntary basis, is therefore in favor of a more detailed technical and financial examination of the bridge location. The Department of Culture is planning to spend 660,000 euros on erecting the memorial on the Schlachte steps. The costs for the bridge could be lower. Bleyl emphasizes: »Remembrance knows no price. The ‘appropriateness’ of a permanent symbol against anti-Semitism cannot be quantified in euros. 660,000 euros is by no means ‘too expensive’ for a permanent intervention in the urban space. Nevertheless, it would be positive for the fundamental feasibility and broad acceptance of the memorial if it could be done with less money.«

The synergies envisaged at the battle stages as a result of the upcoming flood protection measures there have been pushed into the distance: as was recently announced, the flood measures there will not begin for another three to five years.

Background to the project:
The construction of an »Aryanization« memorial has been under discussion in Bremen for four years, and its construction has been approved by parliament since 2016. The background to this is Bremen’s special role as a port and logistics location in the »utilization« of Jewish property. This is partly due to the forced mass emigration of Jewish families via Bremerhaven. In particular, however, Bremen profited from the removal of Jewish property from the occupied countries of Western Europe (»Aktion M«). The shipping company Kühne+Nagel, whose company anniversary in 2015 triggered the memorial debate, was significantly involved.

The taz ideas competition for the memorial design: submissions, materials, exhibition images

A pdf of the ideas competition (submissions, materials, exhibition images) can be found here