Ambivalent traces of Soviet history in Dresden - students explore "lost places"

In the summer semester of 2024, 20 student teachers from TU Dresden embarked on an exciting interdisciplinary journey of discovery as part of the project seminar "Lost Places? (Post-)Soviet Memory in Dresden", 20 teacher training students from TU Dresden embarked on an exciting interdisciplinary journey of discovery to little-known places of Soviet history in Dresden. Under the direction of Dr. Marina Scharlaj (Institute of Slavic Studies) and Ulrike Lang (university teacher of Russian), they explored former Soviet military sites and their significance for the city's collective memory.

The students explored questions of local history, cultural studies and didactics by developing, testing and reflecting on their own teaching formats for extracurricular places of learning in groups. They focused on the Soviet garrison cemetery in the north of Dresden and the memorial on Olbrichtplatz as well as the former Königsbrück barracks site and Soviet detention cellars in the Bautzner Straße memorial. Cooperation with local institutions such as the Frankenberg grammar school and the Denk Mal Fort e.V. association enabled the participants to gain practical experience for their future teaching careers.

The focus was particularly on the questions of what place these "lost places" occupy in the urban landscape today and what new meanings are attributed to them. The students dealt intensively with different forms of remembrance and discussed their role both in the local context of Saxon historical culture and in the global context of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

A continuation of the seminar is planned for the summer semester 2025.