CDU on culture and media

The CDU wants to keep alive the memory of the flight and expulsion of Germans and to safeguard the cultural heritage of expellees. Funding and a dedicated university chair are planned. The party wants to counter the exclusion of ethnic Germans from Russia over the war in Ukraine.

The CDU wants to remember the expellees. These are Germans who had to leave their homes after the war. Their culture should be kept and studied. There should be money for this. Germans from Russia should not be shut out.

A university chair in Lower Saxony is to research the history of German expellees. The state commissioner for expellees and late resettlers is to receive support. Volunteers who look after local heritage collections are to be supported, as are documentation sites such as Gnadenkirchen churches. The CDU also wants to back films and media education projects on the subject. The program justifies this with the war in Ukraine and says ethnic Germans from Russia are sometimes held morally responsible for the Russian attack.

The CDU wants to develop Lower Saxony's Kulturfördergesetz (culture funding law) further and expand funding structures as needed. Investment programs for smaller cultural institutions are to become permanent, and the Landschaftsverbände (regional cultural associations) are to get more influence and money. The platform argues that culture is also an economic asset for a region.

The CDU wants to give more support to culture in Lower Saxony. The law on culture funding should be improved. Small museums and stages should get steady money for building work. Regional culture associations should have more say. They support culture in their local area.

Investment programs for small and mid-sized institutions, venues and museums are to be made permanent, taking into account community arts, independent and amateur theaters and freelance musicians. A state investment budget is to co-finance construction and renovation projects that receive money from the federal government or other funders. Recognized flagship projects, especially independently run festivals, are to get multi-year funding accounts. The regional associations are to be more involved in advising on and approving grants and will receive funds for this. The CDU also wants to classify live music venues as cultural facilities in building law, give foundations more leeway and help cultural institutions with a digitalization strategy.

The CDU wants to raise state subsidies for municipal theaters and the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra on a regular basis. Independent theaters, amateur stages, amateur music groups and volunteer-run cultural venues are also to receive lasting funding.

The CDU wants to give more support to theaters and orchestras. The money from the state should go up regularly. Amateur theater and music groups should also get money. Volunteer-run culture venues should get more targeted help.

The state's supplementary funding for municipal theaters and the orchestra in Göttingen is to be indexed, meaning it rises at regular intervals. Municipal, independent and amateur theaters are to be funded on a continuing and permanent basis. Amateur theater groups, music groups and marching bands are to get financial help. The CDU wants more targeted support for volunteer-run structures such as literature and art houses.

The CDU wants to make working conditions for people in the cultural sector in Lower Saxony more attractive. It plans a grant program for freelance artists, simpler funding applications and a more stable Künstlersozialkasse (artists' social insurance fund), which it demands from the federal government.

The CDU wants to help artists. Freelance artists should be able to get grants. A grant is money that supports their work. Applying for funding should get easier. The social insurance fund for artists should become more secure.

The grant program is to be open to all artistic fields. The CDU calls on the federal government to put the artists' social insurance fund on firmer footing and to make the employment agency and job centers more aware of the placement needs of cultural workers. The state gambling law is to be changed so that gambling levies benefit cultural workers in a more targeted way. An online platform is to provide information on funding from the EU, the federal government and the states and handle applications digitally. Volunteers are to be relieved of red tape, the culture ministry's funding calls simplified, and advisory services for artists supported.

The CDU sees cultural funding as support for young talent as well. It wants to strengthen music and art schools, develop the Landesmusikakademie (state music academy) into a Music Academy of Lower Saxony and create dedicated support for top talent.

The CDU wants to support young talent in music and art. Music schools and art schools should get more help. The state music academy should grow and become more important. Very good young musicians should get special support.

The music program "Wir machen die Musik" is to continue and be supplemented with talent support. Art and music schools are to get help in cushioning the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The CDU wants to make funding for cultural youth education and theater education permanent. Training for leaders of choirs and amateur music groups is to receive more support. Together with universities, the academic training of music teachers is to be strengthened to secure the next generation.

The CDU wants to preserve Low German and Sater Frisian and anchor them more firmly in daycare centers, schools, libraries and public offices. It regards both languages as part of Lower Saxony's identity and points to the European language charter. Regional traditions and customs are also to be brought closer to young people in particular.

The CDU wants to protect Low German and Sater Frisian. These are separate languages in Lower Saxony. Children should get to know them in daycare and school. People should be able to speak Low German in public offices. Young people should also learn about old customs.

Both languages are to get more room in early education, schools and public libraries. The network of Low German officers in public administrations is to grow. Together with regional associations, libraries, schools and adult education providers, the CDU wants to draw up a plan for both languages. It supports keeping a cross-state coordination office that represents speakers of regional languages. The work of local heritage clubs and traditional costume groups is to be rewarded.

The CDU wants more money for cultural work under Section 96 of the Federal Expellees Act, which covers preserving the cultural heritage of Germans expelled after World War II. The office of the state commissioner for expellees and ethnic German resettlers is to be kept permanently.

The CDU wants more money for the culture of expellees. These are Germans who had to leave their homes after the war. There is a state commissioner for them and for ethnic German resettlers. This post should stay for good.

The CDU refers to the 1950 Charter of the German Expellees and names bridge-building, exchange and understanding in a free, united Europe as the core of its policy for expellees, resettlers and German minorities. It sees cultural and remembrance policy as tied to human rights and social policy. The platform cites the Friedland Museum as an example of remembering flight and expulsion. The CDU wants to closely accompany the second construction phase in Friedland and the plans for using the new space.

The CDU wants to advance remembrance culture in Lower Saxony and to support and develop its memorial sites. This covers Nazi-era sites such as Bergen-Belsen as well as museums on Germany's division and the review of colonial-era collections.

The CDU wants to strengthen memorial sites in Lower Saxony. They remind people of the Nazi era and of divided Germany. The Bergen-Belsen memorial should work better for school groups. Museums along the former border should get help. The CDU also wants to remember the victims of the East German dictatorship more.

War grave sites are to be included in this work, which the CDU sees as a contribution to peace. The Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation is to get help with a digitalization strategy, and Nazi-era memorials are to be adapted to how school groups now visit. Museums along the former inner-German border, often run by volunteers, are to get support in securing their holdings; the Eichsfeld Borderland Museum will continue to be funded. Provenance research at the Hanover State Museum and the examination and return of objects from colonial contexts are to be expanded. The CDU also wants to support the state archive and volunteer and municipal archives.

The CDU wants to draw up a plan for a state foundation to look after state-owned castles and palaces. In addition, Marienburg Castle is to be renovated and opened to the public, and state museums, open-air museums and World Heritage sites are to get continued support.

The CDU wants to take better care of the state's castles and palaces. It plans a state foundation for this. Marienburg Castle should be repaired and open to visitors. Museums and World Heritage sites should keep getting help.

The planned foundation is also to be open to other institutions permanently funded by the state and to make the cultural history of the former states of Braunschweig and Oldenburg more visible. The CDU wants to push ahead with renovating Marienburg Castle together with the partners involved. The state museums and the East Prussian State Museum are to get help with permanent and special exhibitions, and insurance rules for loans are to be made more practical. The Schöningen research museum is to be strengthened. The Rundling villages are to become more accessible to visitors, and World Heritage sites, especially in Goslar and the western Harz, will continue to receive support.

The CDU wants strong public broadcasting, financed in the future through an index model in which the license fee is tied to an index. It also wants to preserve the mix of public and private providers and strengthen quality journalism through a certification.

The CDU wants strong public broadcasting. The money for it should follow an index model. That means the fee follows a fixed measure. Private stations and publishers should keep their place too. Good journalism should get a quality label.

The CDU sees the NDR (North German Broadcasting) as a partner that should keep giving high priority to regional coverage. Private media companies and self-employed journalists should be able to grow without bureaucratic hurdles and be included in start-up and seed funding. A certification for quality journalism is meant to give such products advantages in the news market. The CDU wants to modernize film and media funding under the Nordmedia umbrella together with the industry to promote creativity, quality and jobs in the state.