Return of the Names is a remembrance project organised by Bayerischer Rundfunk and the City of Munich. On 11 April 2024, several thousand people in Munich's city centre commemorated 1,000 Munich residents who were persecuted and murdered during the Nazi era. Godparents stood at the people's former homes and places of work with signs bearing information about the individuals and their photos. There, they provided information about their life stories and engaged in dialogue with local residents and passers-by. You can find all the locations as well as the names and biographies of the people who were commemorated in the app of Public History München.
The Memorial Signs (Erinnerungszeichen) also took part in this project with 188 biographies. A number of signs were held by relatives and initiators of Remembrance Signs. Bruce Neuburger, for example, travelled from San Francisco especially for the project to hold signs in memory of his grandparents Benno and Anna Neuburger together with other family members from Boston and Athens in front of Troegerstraße 44. They were joined by neighbours.
In front of the Münchner Kammerspiele theatre, employees held signs for Benno Bing, Emilia Rowohlt, Hans Tintner and Edgar Weil. The director of the Munich City Archive stood in front of Tengstraße 25 with a sign in memory of Rosa Landauer. Teachers from St Anna Grammar School commemorated Lotte Schwarzschild, Rita Stark and Ruth Wilmersdörfer in front of their school. Members of the Erinnerungswerkstatt München - the Munich Remembrance Workshop - stood on Franz-Joseph-Strauß-Ring with signs for Charlotte Carney and Emma Wallach, among others. Munich city councillor Stefan Jagl carried his sign for Hans Beimler in front of the Bavarian State Parliament. Cultural Affairs Officer Anton Biebl and the current Georg Elser Prize winner Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu took part in the project by carrying their sign in Türkenstraße in memory of Georg Elser.
Afterwards, all godmothers and godfathers gathered at Königsplatz at 5 p.m. and then walked together in an impressive walk of remembrance to Odeonsplatz, where the final rally took place.
Did you also stand with a sign in Munich on 11 April to commemorate a person? Why not send us your photos with details of the photographer to erinnerungszeichen@muenchen.de and we will be happy to publish selected images in our photo gallery.
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