Jens-Christian Wagner
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Jens-Christian Wagner (born 1966) is a German historian who specializes in the Nazi era and the
politics of memory The politics of memory refers to how societies construct, contest, and institutionalize collective memories of historical events. Often this practice should serve political, social, or ideological purpose. As a field of study, memory politics seek ...
. Wagner has published multiple academic books about
Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora (also Dora-Mittelbau and Nordhausen-Dora) was a Nazi concentration camp located near Nordhausen in Thuringia, Germany. It was established in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp, supplying slave labour f ...
and its subcamps. He was the director of Mittelbau-Dora memorial from 2001, was the chairman of , and became the overseer of Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation in 2020.


Historical research

In 1999, Wagner received his doctorate from the
University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...
; his dissertation, supervised by , focused on the
Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora (also Dora-Mittelbau and Nordhausen-Dora) was a Nazi concentration camp located near Nordhausen in Thuringia, Germany. It was established in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp, supplying slave labour f ...
and was later published as ''Produktion des Todes: Das KZ Mittelbau-Dora'' ("Production of Death: the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp"). , it is the only book that covers the entire history of Mittelbau-Dora. The book focuses on the collaboration between the SS and the armaments industry, the relationship between extermination and forced labor, and the position of the camp vis-a-vis its surroundings. According to reviewer Christiane Grieb, the book, unlike other studies, focuses on the victims of the camp rather than on " wonder weapons" and correctly identifies death as the main "product" of the camp. She praised the book for its in-depth research and placing the camp in its historical and spatial context. Historian stated, "Anyone interested in the history of the Kohnsteiner camp complex and the relationship between work and extermination in the concentration camp system cannot ignore this book." In 2009, Wagner published a book, ''Ellrich 1944/45: Konzentrationslager und Zwangsarbeit in einer deutschen Kleinstadt'' ("Ellrich 1944/45: Concentration camp and forced labor in a small German town") about the Ellrich concentration camp complex, a subcamp of Mittlebau-Dora which operated in 1944 and 1945 in the
Harz mountains The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a Mittelgebirge, highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The nam ...
around the town of Ellrich. Historian
Panikos Panayi Panikos Panayi (born 18 October 1962) is a cultural historian known for his books on the social history of food, immigration, and inter-ethnic relations. Biography Panikos Panayi was born in a Greek Cypriot parents Nestora and Chrystalla who m ...
praised the book for its high quality and comprehensive coverage, stating that it was "a precise and detailed narrative of virtually all aspects of the camps".


Memorial work

Wagner has served as the director of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp memorial since 2001. In 2014, he was appointed chairman of the whose purpose is to commemorate Nazi crimes committed in
Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...
, for a five-year term. In May 2020, he succeeded as the director of Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation. Wagner stated that in the late 2010s, there was an increase in hecklers at Nazi concentration camp sites who questioned historical facts and tried to downplay Nazi crimes. Wagner stated that heckling incidents occurred "on a weekly basis from people of all ages and all backgrounds, although they are almost exclusively ethnically German" and blamed politicians from
Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...
(AfD) for shifting the window of what it was publicly acceptable to say. Wagner has stated that he receives threats for his work and reports them to the state prosecutor. Around the same time he made four reports to police within a week because he found right-wing extremist statements in the visitor guidebook contrary to the German constitution. In 2019, both Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora memorials banned AfD representatives from events "unless they credibly distance themselves from the anti-democratic, revisionist positions in their party". Guests who wear Thor Steinar, a brand of clothing associated with neo-Nazism, are asked to cover it up and are denied entry if they refuse to comply. In 2020, he told different German media outlets that memorials should not just focus on victims, but also explain the role of perpetrators, bystanders, and profiteers of Nazi persecution. Wagner criticized the use of Nazi comparisons in
protests over COVID-19 policies in Germany Since April 2020, when Germany's Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the governmental lockdown imposed in March to counter the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, COVID-19 pandemic did not allow blanket bans on rallies, numerous protests have bee ...
, which he states are "an appalling mockery and a trivialization of the crimes committed by the Nazis." After a young corona-protestor compared herself to Nazi resistance activist
Sophie Scholl Sophia Magdalena Scholl (9 May 1921 – 22 February 1943) was a German student and anti-Nazi political activist, active in the White Rose non-violent German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany. Raised in a politically engag ...
, he suggested that German education focused too much on the victims of Nazi persecution without addressing the question of how these people became victims. In September 2020, there was a controversy over a speech co-written by Wagner and read by
Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...
mayor Claudia Dettmar-Müller, which included the statement: "During the Second World War the SS and Wehrmacht committed unimaginable crimes on our doorstep." Local politicians from AfD as well as
Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...
,
Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism. Current parties with that name include: *Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...
and Christian Democratic Union distanced themselves from these words, despite the historical fact of
war crimes of the Wehrmacht During World War II, the German Wehrmacht (combined armed forces - German Army (Wehrmacht), ''Heer'', ''Kriegsmarine'', and ''Luftwaffe'') committed systematic war crimes, including massacres, mass rape, looting, the exploitation of forced labou ...
. Later in the month, he filed a complaint against the AfD in Bergen for
Volksverhetzung (), in English "incitement to hatred" (used also in the official English translation of the German Criminal Code), "incitement of popular hatred", "incitement of the masses", or "instigation of the people", is a concept in German criminal law t ...
. In November 2020, Wagner received a call from Göttingen public prosecutor informing him that he was under investigation for publishing "defamatory facts to the detriment of Wehrmacht soldiers". The complaint, filed by a retired
Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...
officer, focused on his book, ''Armament, War and Crimes: The Wehrmacht and the Bergen-Hohne Barracks'', a companion to a museum exhibition about crimes of the Wehrmacht. The proceedings were discontinued, but Wagner said he fears that "it has become socially acceptable again to talk about a
clean Wehrmacht The myth of the clean ''Wehrmacht'' () is the negationist notion that the regular German armed forces (the ''Wehrmacht'') were not involved in the Holocaust or other war crimes during World War II. The myth, heavily promoted by German author ...
", a long-disproven myth. The prosecution was criticized by ''
Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...
'' editor Ronen Steinke, who praised Wagner for "setting standards in the explanation of the German
war of annihilation A war of annihilation () or war of extermination is a type of war in which the goal is the complete annihilation of a state, a people or an ethnic minority through genocide or through the destruction of their livelihood. The goal can be outwar ...
for many years". Green politician
Jürgen Trittin Jürgen Trittin (born 25 July 1954) is a German Green politician who served as Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005. Early life and education ...
called the investigation "scandalous".


Awards

In 2012, Wagner was awarded the
Ordre des Palmes académiques A suite, in Western classical music, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes; and grew in scope so that by the early 17th century it comprised up to ...
for his services to French-German relations and his work at the Mittelbau Dora memorial.


Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Jens-Christian 1966 births Living people 21st-century German historians Chevaliers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques University of Göttingen alumni Directors of museums in Germany