Invitation to Renaming Ceremony: Bauhaus-Universität Weimar to Rename Auditorium Maximum as »Maurice Halbwachs Auditorium«
Maurice Halbwachs (1877 - 1945) was an influential French sociologist and philosopher who taught at the Université de Strasbourg, the Sorbonne in Paris and at the Collège de France. His wide-ranging work includes fundamental contributions to the sociology of labour and economics, the sociology of social classes, urban sociology, the sociology of suicide, social morphology and statistics. His study on »The Social Frameworks of Memory«, published in 1925, and his subsequent theory of collective memory are regarded as influential far beyond his time. Halbwachs was also a pioneer of Franco-German academic exchange and inter-confessional dialogue.
In the summer of 1944, Halbwachs was arrested and deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, where he died in March 1945 as a result of the harsh conditions of his imprisonment. Even today, there is nothing in Weimar to commemorate the renowned sociologist. The university is acknowledging this part of history by renaming its largest lecture hall, the Auditorium Maximum, the »Maurice Halbwachs Auditorium« in honour of the French sociologist.
By naming the auditorium after Maurice Halbwachs, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is not only honouring an eminent academic but also memorialising the victims of German National Socialism and affirming its stance against all forms of totalitarian violence. Media representatives are cordially invited to the renaming ceremony:
Ceremony for Renaming the Auditoriums Maximums to
»Maurice-Halbwachs-Auditorium«
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
5 to 6:30 pm
Auditorium Maximum in the University Library
Steubenstrasse 6, 99423 Weimar
We would be honoured by your presence and encourage you to mark your calendar for this meaningful event.