A family photo with Charlotta, Olaf, Barbara, Karolina Siefken and dog Balu was recently taken by a friend.

The Incredible Happens

The majority had only heard of Corona from the news when the pandemic had already arrived in her personal environment for Barbara Siefken. On March 9, 2020, her internet blog begins with the description of her cousin Cessi: „All the men stand in the parking lot at our GP and get tested!“Just from Ischgl, the partner of the cousin, her brother-in-law and some friends had come home, Barbara Siefken explains.

Remembrance culture wants to be cultivated in public. As early as 9 November, however, many commemorations of the victims of the Nazi pogroms had been seen at best as – certainly well-intentioned – live streams on social media. There is too much fear that contagion could occur on official occasions. The fear must be outweighed at the moment against impending memory gaps.

The usual elevator of many people on the occasion of the Volkstrauertag at the Fallen Monument on the edge of the castle park in Hürth-Hermülheim should not have existed this time. But the chairman of the local community Oliver Franz and local head Hans-Josef Lang did not want to do without a wreath laying as a presence event on a small scale.