Evonik Group delegation visits Kazerne Dossin as part of the project 'Every name matters'

• Cross-border campaign against intolerance and exclusion
• Commitment based on historical awareness
• Call for participation in the public project "Every name matters"

Antwerp, 26 February 2024 – On Monday 26 February, a delegation from the Evonik Group visited Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen. The visit was dedicated to the public project "Every name matters", commemorating the thousands of victims of the Holocaust in Belgium by restoring their names.

Kazerne Dossin is a museum that tells the historical story of the persecution of Jews and the Holocaust in Belgium while being a research centre on Holocaust and Human Rights. Its mission: to encourage reflection on racism, exclusion of population groups and discrimination. Through the public project "Every name matters", individuals as well as partner organisations, schools and companies can say the name of a deportee, thus commemorating the 25,843 victims.

Thomas Wessel, Chief Human Resources Officer of the Evonik Group, Markus Langer, Co-Managing Director of the Evonik Foundation and Dr Andrea Hohmeyer, Head of Heritage & History, are fully behind the culture of remembrance, which naturally has an important place at Evonik. Evonik has been actively addressing the past of its predecessors and their involvement in the crimes of National Socialism for years. After all, dealing openly and transparently with one's own history is crucial to a better understanding of the present. This is currently more important than ever, with the popularity of right-wing extremist parties rising sharply in many European countries and European elections imminent. "Those who doubt democracy should not forget why we have lived in peace for more than 70 years on the territory of today's European Union," says Thomas Wessel. "And in Belgium, there is no better place to remember this than Kazerne Dossin.”

Cross-border commitment

Kazerne Dossin is a unique "lieu de mémoire" that brings real, human stories from the past and the present. Kazerne Dossin wants to continue to appeal to the wider public and wants to be a unifying organisation. Bart Somers, Mayor of Mechelen: "Dossin is the most horrible and the most beautiful place in Mechelen. Awful because the horror of the Holocaust is barely comprehensible. Beautiful because this museum can encourage people to reflect and engage, to make the right choices. This museum is thus our city's most outspoken ethical statement.”

Tomas Baum, Director of Kazerne Dossin, gave the Evonik delegation a particularly warm welcome. After reading in the names, it was time for a constructive discussion about responsibility for the past, Evonik's culture of remembrance, the protection of freedom and democracy in Europe and human rights in general. “We very much appreciate the fact that Evonik's management is taking the time to help propagate the "Every name matters" project - a remembrance project on a human level. It's good that a company not only thinks about its impact on society, but also actively takes on a social role," adds Tomas Baum.

Call for participation

Anyone who says one of the names commemorates one of the people who had to experience anti-Semitism, racism, discrimination and hatred at Kazerne Dossin. "Companies have an important social role and Evonik Antwerp takes this seriously. Engagement should not be limited to empty words. Our support for the "Every name matters" project is a call for active resistance against injustice and exclusion," says Ivan Pelgrims, Managing Director of Evonik Antwerp.