Lecture: ‘A Hundred Years of Sanctions Law against “Work-Shy” People: A History of Radicalisation’

The series of events accompanying the exhibition will kick off this evening with a lecture entitled ‘A Hundred Years of Sanctions Law against “Work-Shy” Individuals: A History of Radicalisation’ by Prof. Dr Rosenow (University of Freiburg). In the subsequent panel discussion, historical developments will be linked to issues in Social Work and the present day. The discussion will be moderated by Martin Bock from the Cottbus Youth Welfare Office, and a welcome address will be given by Prof. Dr Jens M. Schubert, Dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg.

Who decides who belongs to society? Who is marginalised, stigmatised or labelled as ‘different’ – and what happens when such attributions become state policy? – These are the questions addressed by the exhibition ‘The Denied: Victims of National Socialism 1933–1945–Today’. 
The exhibition ‘The Denied’ commemorates people who were persecuted under National Socialism as so-called ‘asocials’ and ‘professional criminals’. Tens of thousands were deprived of their freedom; many were murdered. It was not until 2020 that the German Bundestag recognised these people as victims of Nazism. Following this resolution, Parliament commissioned the Foundation for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial to create an exhibition, which will be shown in Cottbus in autumn 2026 after stops in Berlin, Leipzig, Cologne and various memorial sites, amongst others. The exhibition has been on display at the Cottbus City Museum  since 8 October 2026 and will remain there until 3 January 2027.

The chair of Media Education: Aesthetic Practice in Social Workhas developed its own public programme to accompany the exhibition in collaboration with the Cottbus City Museum, the Justus Delbrück Haus | Academy for Co-determination in Jamlitz and KARUNA e.V., together with colleagues. The BTU Open Campus is hosting three events in November and December that link historical memory with contemporary experiences of exclusion. Lectures, a ‘Public Listening’ session with a panel discussion, and a ‘Wandelkonzert’ (transition concert) offer different perspectives on a topic that extends far beyond the historical reappraisal of National Socialism. The central question is: What can we learn from history when people are still marginalised today due to poverty, homelessness or unemployment?

BTU Open Campus: An overview of the programme

Wednesday, 4 November 2026, 6–8 pm “A Hundred
Years of Sanctions Law against the ‘Work-Shy’: A History of Radicalisation”
Lecture and panel discussion with Prof. Dr Rosenow
Venue: Cottbus City Museum, Large Seminar Room, 3rd floor

Tuesday, 24 November 2026, 5–8 pm
Public Listening & Panel Discussion: ‘Violence in the Lives of Homeless People’
Venue: Studio Freies Radio sternchen.fm, Burgstraße 22

Saturday, 12 December 2026, 6.00 pm
‘Verurteilte Klänge’
– a concert in memory With students of Instrumental and Vocal Performance and Teaching from the BTU and Immanuel de Gilde
Venue: ‘Die Verleugneten’ exhibition spaces, Cottbus City Museum

Organisers of the BTU Open Campus: 
Chair of Media Education: Aesthetic Practice in Social Work (Prof. Stefanie Kiwi Menrath)
Chair of Methods of Social Work with a focus on Community Work (Deputy Professor Dr Kevin Stützel)
Music Pedagogy chair / Institute for Instrumental and Vocal Performance and Teaching (Immanuel de Gilde)

Flyer for the exhibition and accompanying programme “The Denied” in Cottbus

Further information:
https://www.b-tu.de/fg-medienpaedagogik-soziale-arbeit/veranstaltungen/die-verleugneten