A contribution to the discussion about the Jahn memorial in Hasenheide
Against the backdrop of the current debate about the redesign of Neukölln's Hasenheide, the Department of Museum, Urban History and Remembrance Culture is examining the work and legacy of Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, the monument dedicated to him in the Hasenheide and its appropriation in various eras.
Image gallery
Museum Neukölln
The Hasenheide went down in history as the site of the first German public gymnastics ground; a monument to Jahn was dedicated there in 1872 - one of over 300 monuments that can be found in Germany and Europe today. Now a resolution passed by the district council in 2023 is calling this Neukölln monument into question.
Back in 2011, the Neukölln Museum created the exhibition "200 Years of the Hasenheide Gymnastics Field". Building on this, DENK MAL JAHN now incorporates new questions and sources into the exhibition. As contemporaries of the 21st century, we are taking another look at Friedrich Ludwig Jahn using historical-critical source analysis. Jahn was a child of his time - his ideas on political and social developments as well as ethical issues should therefore be seen in the historical context of the early 19th century. In order to view the exhibition from today's perspective, we must also consider the rewritings, appropriations and instrumentalizations that took place in the respective eras.
The exhibition sees itself as a dialogical and discursive space in which visitors are invited to express their own opinions on Jahn.
