Open letter of solidarity to the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau

We, the academic staff, administrative staff, students, and University Directorate of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, are monitoring with great concern the accusations and allegations being made by the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) against the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau.

Should the AfD come to power in the Saxony-Anhalt state elections this September, they intend to initiate a »patriotic shift« in cultural policy. The Bauhaus is particularly under threat in this context and is being portrayed as a place of »identitylessness«, to which a »#deutschdenken« (#thinkgerman) is presented as an alternative. Rather promoting an intellectually and culturally open approach to architecture, art, and scholarship, the proposal is to teach an architecture based on »Bautradition« (building tradition). This idea promotes a culture founded on an ethnically homogeneous understanding of the nation and one that would transform educational and cultural institutions, including the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, into places characterised by narrow-mindedness, intolerance, and provincialism.

As members of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, we wholeheartedly reject this cultural ideology. The Bauhaus represents curiosity, open-mindedness, an experimental spirit, and academic and artistic freedom. These values are incompatible with the patriotic ideology such as that which the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is seeking to establish. We warn against pursuing this path, as it threatens the very foundations of science, research, and the arts.

With this letter, we are calling on everyone to stand up for democracy and to take a stand against this so-called »patriotic shift«. We hereby express our solidarity with all artists and academics at the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau. The Bauhaus represents solidarity with everyone whose freedom in science and the arts is under threat. This refers in particular to the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, with whom we express our full and unwavering solidarity.

The Senate of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

Background
At the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, we understand that we play a key role in society. With this role comes the responsibility to uphold democratic values in the public sphere by drawing on and sharing the knowledge and expertise of its academics, artists, and administration.

Questions can be directed to Dr. Frank Eckardt, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Professorship of Urban Studies and Social Research, by e-mail to frank.eckardt[at]uni-weimar.de.