Contextual Authenticity Research Analysis (C.A.R.A.)

C.A.R.A. is an innovative research approach that aims to systematically integrate historical authenticity into historical science as an empirically accessible and ethically reflected source.

C.A.R.A. does not view historical sites as passive relics, but rather as independent primary data matrices (PDM) in which physical, emotional, moral, and ethical layers of historical experience are sedimented. The essence of the approach lies in activating these unique sources through a Data Extraction Event (DEE), in which descendants of contemporary witnesses are confronted with the historical space under controlled conditions.

In my project, these are explicitly the descendants of those witnesses who once testified against Julius Streicher, as well as the descendants of Karl Joel, a prominent Jewish Nuremberg resident who became the target of Julius Streicher's anti-Semitic propaganda (“Der Stümer”). These systematic smear campaigns formed the breeding ground for the Nuremberg Laws of 1935.

The participation of Karl Joel's descendants and the descendants of Julius Streicher's witnesses in my project is crucial for capturing affective, cognitive, and physical reactions that are not possible with traditional historical methods.

These immediate reactions create a new form of historical evidence that is both emotionally and ethically relevant. A special feature of my methodology is post-empirical validation, which is not concerned with reproducibility in the scientific sense, but with coherence, contextualization, transparency, and intersubjective comprehensibility. C.A.R.A. therefore does not seek to replace existing historiographical methods, but rather to expand them with an empirically controlled, ethical-affective dimension. This approach was particularly relevant in the context of Nuremberg's application to become European Capital of Culture 2025. The question of how history affects the present-and how this effect can be scientifically recorded and made visible to a European (international) public-is a central component of this work.

C.A.R.A. makes it possible to explore historical sites such as the former Nazi party rally grounds not only in terms of memory politics, but also on the basis of empirical resonance. The participation of the descendants of Karl Joel and the descendants of witnesses against Julius Streicher gives the project an immediate ethical relevance that goes far beyond academic discourse.

This installation served as a concrete case study in the context of Nuremberg's application to become the European Capital of Culture 2025