Gerd Steinwascher

75 years of Lower Saxony and Bremen - a retrospective on the history of the federal states through 75 memorial sites. In November 2021 and January 2022, Lower Saxony and Bremen will celebrate their 75th state anniversaries. As a commemorative gift for their two founding states, the Historical Commission is now focusing on the culture of remembrance in Northwest Germany. The memory of the shared history of the regions finds various points of connection: specific places, objects, artworks, as well as customs, songs, individuals, and ideas. These memorial sites allow for an appropriation of the past and the formation of identity, as well as self-location within our society. They can be forgotten, revived, and reinterpreted depending on interests. In short essays, 75 exemplary regional, state-wide, and national and European memorial sites related to Lower Saxony and Bremen are presented. The range spans from antiquity to the present and employs the broad methodological spectrum of modern state history.