Museums against right-wing extremism: recommendations for action based on research and practical experienceorschung und Praxis

Right-wing populism/extremism aims to generate resonance in all areas of society and to have an anti-democratic effect. Museums, as spaces of democratic public life, are particular targets of right-wing populist/extremist attacks. The task force ‘Museums against Right-wing Extremism: Recommendations for Action from Research and Practice’ is using experiences with extreme right-wing attacks on the LWL Museum Zeche Zollern as an opportunity to address the following question: How can museums counter acute threats posed by right-wing populism/extremism?

As part of the task force, the LWL Museum Zeche Zollern (Jana Golombek and Milena Täschner) and the European University of Flensburg (Diana Cichecki, Dr. Christoph Haker and Dr. habil. Lukas Otterspeer) are working together on two key areas: Firstly, workshops on museum-specific exchange are being held to develop a checklist for dealing with right-wing populist/extremist attacks on museums. The checklist covers three phases: preparation for, dealing with and follow-up to right-wing populist/extremist attacks on museums. The topics covered will be: communication, legal framework, preparing staff for face-to-face encounters and networking. Secondly, this process will be accompanied by scientific research. In addition to researching cases of right-wing populist/extremist attacks on museums in mass media reporting, the research will focus on negotiation and learning processes through interviews and participant observation of the workshops. The task force's result is a checklist with accompanying text, which will be made available to museums via the Conference of Museum Advisory Services in the German states for dealing with acute right-wing populist/extremist attacks.