After just under a year of design development, in April 2024 I not only completed the most emotional task of my professional career, but also by far the most important: my BR heart project “The Return of the Names” (German: “Die Rückkehr der Namen”).

With the project “The Return of the Names”, the Bavarian public TV channel “Bayerischer Rundfunk”, with the support of the Cultural Department of the City of Munich, commemorated 1,000 Munich residents who were persecuted, dehumanized and murdered during the Nazi regime. On April 11, 2024, the victims of the Nazi regime were commemorated in an impressive way and a sign was set for democracy and tolerance as well as against discrimination and racism.

On this day, around 1,000 volunteers stood in the Munich city area with memorial plaques bearing photos and biographical data of Nazi victims who once lived and worked in Munich. From 5 pm, there was a “Path of Remembrance” from Königsplatz to Odeonsplatz, where a large final rally with 4,800 participants took place from 6 pm (I have linked further information on this below).

I was entrusted with the task of providing the creative framework for this project, with the proviso that it could be applied to a wide variety of media.

The challenge: to bring a sensitive topic in an increasingly polarized environment closer to as broad a section of society as possible.

As a designer, you first have to swallow and ask yourself: What kind of design is appropriate? How far should it be allowed to come to the fore before it becomes an end in itself? How should it manage the balancing act between the abyss of the past and a hopeful view of a better future?

One guiding principle crystallized for me: “The Return of the Names” reminds us of the crimes of the Nazi regime. But it also reminds us that the democracy in which we live is a fragile asset and cannot be taken for granted. Today, populists and enemies of democracy are on the rise again worldwide – including in Germany.

It is therefore all the more important that we literally look into the eyes of the people who have become victims of populists and enemies of democracy: Jews, Sinti and Roma, forced laborers, Jehovah’s Witnesses, political or social dissidents, homosexuals and the sick.

The remembrance project “The Return of the Names” offers the opportunity to do so by recounting the fates of the victims. With names, dates, pictures and biographies. A bundled ruthlessness of documented facts.

I invite you to take a look too. It is important.

Thanks to BR and the Munich Cultural Department for their trusting cooperation. But especially to: Kai Bleser, Uwe Kassner, Andreas Bönte, Sabine Masser-Fröschl, Imke Fieth and Dr. Maximilian Strnad (Public History).

Click here for the BR topic page:

https://www.br.de/rueckkehr-der-namen/index.html

This article aptly captures the gravity of this topic:

https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/kontrovers/die-rueckkehr-der-namen/br-fernsehen/Y3JpZDovL2JyLmRlL3ZpZGVvLzYxZGE1MzdlLWQ3NzktNGQ5ZC1iOTgwLTMzNTg0N2Y5MTU4NA

Client: Bayerischer Rundfunk
Project leader BR: Andreas Bönte
Producer BR: Kai Bleser
Head of Design & Promotion BR: Uwe Kassner
Project coordination BR: Anja Kuttenberger, Eileen Pilling, Helge Freund
Sound design BR: Andreas Dittrich