The quick response codes have been integrated into memorial sites in order to inform and educate viewers.
Frankfurt, Germany has well over one hundred different memorials that are dedicated to remembering the atrocities that occurred throughout the time that the Nazis were in power and new QR codes have now been installed on 19 of them in order to increase the amount of information that they share with the viewer.
The purpose of these quick response codes is to ensure that people will never forget what happened.
Scanning the QR codes provides visitors to the area with information about the memorial sites directly onto their smartphones. As each of the barcodes is unique to its own memorial, it means that visitors will be able to learn about the specific location that they are viewing. This effort is designed to ensure that the history of the atrocities will never be forgotten, in order to respect those who suffered and in the hopes that it will never repeat itself.
The plaques on which the QR codes have been mounted will share important yet heartbreaking stories.
For instance, the plaque at the Römerberg provides a QRcode that share the story from May 10, 1933, when Nazi students brought their copies of books by banned authors and piled them together. The mountain of masterpieces in German literature was doused in gasoline and burned before a crowd of 15,000 cheering people. Among the authors whose books were incinerated included Alfred Doblin, Klaus and Heinrich Mann, and Stefan Zweig.
Other areas with QR codes on their memorial plaques include the eagle works, the main cemetery and St. Paul’s church. Each of the barcodes is focused on a time in history between 1933 and 1945 in which terrible Nazi crimes were committed.
This pilot project using QR codes is only just getting started in Frankfurt. The intention is to expand the use of the barcodes to more of the over 100 different memorial locations throughout the city to make it much easier for people to gain access to the memories of these very important locations in German and global history.
