The presence of American troops had a lasting impact on the city of Giessen in the period after 1945. Spatially, this was particularly evident in the use of large barracks facilities, which dominated entire districts and have visibly changed the cityscape to this day. Added to this was the development of the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, a separate supply infrastructure with supermarkets, petrol stations and service companies, which almost formed a city within a city. The social impact was no less profound: up to 40,000 people – soldiers, civilian employees and their families – lived in and around Giessen at times. On the labor market, the armed forces also created a considerable number of jobs for the local population, which had a noticeable impact on the local economy. Finally, culturally, clubs, sporting events and leisure activities brought new lifestyles and social impulses to the city.
This period ended with the withdrawal of the US troops in 2007, and brought with it a major change – at all the levels already mentioned above.
In order to commemorate this time and to visualize the effects that are still effective today, the city of Giessen, in cooperation with the association “Die Brücke – Deutsch Amerikanischer Klub Gießen-Wetzlar”, is looking for a form of remembrance of the time of the presence of US troops in Giessen.
The remembrance can take any form imaginable: a piece of music, a text, a festival, a memorial, etc.. Recurring temporary events or formats, naming or even combinations of different elements are conceivable.
The path to remembrance is a process in two phases:
Phase 1: OpenCall
Phase 2: Invitation competition with prize money
In this first phase, the OpenCall, we are asking for short sketches and proposals for remembrance in any form.
Aspects
-The remembrance applies to the spatial presence of American troops, which can hardly be experienced after the withdrawal and conversion.
-The remembrance applies to the observation that the democratic community would not have been possible today without the victory over Nazi Germany, without the denazification program and without the trust in the possibility of democratic structures in Germany as well.
-Remembrance includes the ambivalence with which the USA was viewed from the mid-1960s through the Vietnam War and from the 1980s with the arms race.
– Remembrance applies to the everyday cultural aspects of consumer goods, facilities, music and visibility.
Forms
-The memory can take any form imaginable: a piece of music, a text, a festival, a monument, etc.. Recurring temporary events or formats, naming or even combinations of different elements are conceivable.
Requirements
-The commemoration should be sustainable in a comprehensive sense and include social, ecological and economic aspects of sustainability.
-The commemoration must be timeless and appropriate even if the USA becomes less of a democratic point of reference in the future.
-The commemoration should be low-threshold, barrier-free and connectable for dealing with issues of urban society.
In this first phase, the Open Call, we are asking for short sketches and proposals on remembrance.
Please include a short artistic CV with your proposal and ideally also references for projects in the field of remembrance culture. Proposals in the Open Call may not exceed 5,000 characters (including spaces) as a description of the idea. Text exceeding this number of characters will not be considered. The texts may be written in outlines without continuous text, provided they remain comprehensible.
For illustrative purposes, a maximum of 5 visualizations may be submitted as PDFs, or audiovisual files with a maximum total playing time of 5 minutes, e.g. for proposals that use film, theatre/performance or music. Audiovisual files that are used to present the proposal in a lecture will not be accepted. The proposals must be feasible for the city of Giessen in terms of legal framework conditions. The submitter must be in a position to implement the project or manage its implementation. The proposal must include a cost estimate for production and operation over 10 years.
No budget has yet been planned for implementation. In addition to compliance with the brief (aspects and requirements), the prospect of financial viability will also be an aspect for evaluation.
We look forward to receiving proposals by 15.06.2026.
Submissions for the OpenCall will not be honored.
A jury will select proposals for an invitational competition by 01.08.2026. The deadline for submission is then 30.11.2026.
Entries for the invitational competition will be rewarded with €1,000 to €1,500 (depending on the number of entries selected); the winning design will also receive a prize of €3,000. The general conditions for the invitational competition will be announced with the invitation.
If you have any questions, please contact:
Dr. Stefan Neubacher, Head of the Cultural Office of the City of Giessen
Please submit your proposal online to:
Petra Bröckmann
Application deadline: June 15, 2026