From university to museum

The exhibition "Life in Transition: Bavaria 1918-1925 between Democracy, Self-Determination and Violence" is the result of intensive teamwork. Under the direction of PD Dr Julia Eichenberg and Alexander Schwarz, MA, Bayreuth history students worked on it for two semesters, first in an academic proseminar and then in a practical exercise. This provided valuable experience for the students: "Working with the Bayreuth Historical Museum on everything from the exhibition concept to the opening, guided tours for various school classes and the closing event gave us a good insight into the world beyond the university," says Lorenz Herdeis, a student teacher of history.

Divided into the main themes of democracy, self-determination and violence, the students worked in small groups on different focal points of the exhibition. The years 1918 and 1919 represent two democratic milestones in Bavaria: the proclamation of the Free State by the socialist Kurt Eisner, who became its first prime minister, and the first elections to the Bavarian state parliament. For the first time, women in Bavaria had the right to vote for a parliament: a step towards self-determination – and women also gained more rights in other areas of life. However, Eisner and his party, the USPD, were only able to garner 2.5 per cent of the vote in these elections. Already determined to resign, he was assassinated on 21 February 1919 by the right-wing radical and anti-Semite Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley. Political violence, especially from the right, which sometimes met with understanding but rarely with determined resistance in the judiciary and society, characterised the early years of the young republic.

"Life in Transition" – the title of this exhibition reflects the young curators' desire to repeatedly build bridges between political history and people's everyday lives. In the section focusing on "Self-determination," this is illustrated by two exhibits from the archives of the German Alpine Club: "The exhibits, a meeting minutes and a sign for the Glorerhütte hut belonging to the Danube Alpine Club, are representative of the rise of anti-Semitism in the 1920s. 

At the same time, they also provide insights into society's efforts to counter such processes of exclusion: at a meeting in October 1919, the German and Austrian Alpine Clubs decided to allow their sections to exclude Jewish members. As a result, Jewish mountaineers founded their own section, the Donauland Alpine Club. They created places of refuge and protection for themselves, such as the Glorerhütte." Political dynamics always affect all areas of society. At the same time, democratic structures offer opportunities to counteract them, according to Alexander Schwarz – this becomes clear in the exhibition.

The exhibition design picks up on the three themes of democracy, self-determination and violence, while also highlighting how closely they are intertwined. To achieve this, the Bayreuth team collaborated with a partner seminar at the University of Wuppertal: students from the Media Design and Interior Design department, led by Tobias Schalk, M.A., contributed their expertise and played a key role in the success of the project. 

The eye-catcher in the centre of the exhibition space is a life-size advertising column covered with contemporary posters, some with highly controversial political content, others with everyday topics. This project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Technology and Space within the framework of the research network 'Deutungskämpfe im Übergang' (Interpretation Battles in Transition) on historical peace and conflict research. We had two goals, says PD Dr Julia Eichenberg: The students should be able to get a taste of the processes involved in running a museum and learn ways of communicating complex knowledge, which will be useful to them later in their teaching careers as well as in the cultural sector. 

At the same time, the exhibition was intended to showcase the work of our interdisciplinary research network. The great commitment of the students and the broad interest of the visitors showed that research and teaching could be profitably combined here. "For us students, the continuous, intensive work on a topic over two semesters, but especially the opportunity to present the results of our work to the public, was an extraordinary experience. The constant discussions within the team and even across disciplinary boundaries with the design students are not necessarily part of everyday life in history studies. I am all the more pleased that such valuable opportunities are being created here in Bayreuth!" concludes Lorenz Herdeis.