Editor’s Note: On 3 November 2025, the Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Familie (Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family) sent an email to the principals of Berlin secondary schools to actively promote the Nova Exhibition. Mirja Leibnitz and Sabine Bretz wrote this response: “We believe that this constitutes a serious violation of school law, the Beutelsbach Consensus, educational professionalism, and the duty of care towards students. For this reason, we submitted an administrative and professional supervisory complaint to the Berlin Senator for Education on 14 November 2025, on behalf of 53 parents, educators, and other individuals. We are making this text template available for free use and call on others to submit further complaints.” You can find more information on the Familien für Palästina Instagram page.
Dear Senator,
We hereby submit an administrative and supervisory complaint against Mr. Ulrich Hagemann (Department II B 4 – Specialist Supervision of the Social Sciences), his superiors, and the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family pursuant to Article 17 of the Basic Law and Article 34 of the Constitution of Berlin.
The reason is the email sent on 3 November 2025 to principals of Berlin secondary schools, titled “Info and Support Materials – NOVA Exhibition,” which promoted class visits to the Nova Exhibition. The same email also recommended a “Pedagogical Toolkit for Teachers, School Social Work, and School Psychology” created by MIND-Prevention gGmbH as accompanying material.
Mr. Hagemann’s email (dated 3 November 2025), as well as the accompanying letter and the “Supporting Materials to the NOVA Exhibition” from MIND-Prevention gGmbH, are attached to this complaint.
The promotion of the exhibition and the toolkit via email to the principals of Berlin secondary schools constitutes a serious violation of the following legal foundations and duties:
1. Violations of §§ 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Berlin School Act
The explicit recommendation of the Nova Exhibition and its pedagogical toolkit violates or disregards key educational policy duties and legal requirements, which are:
- Violation of § 1 – Educational mandate
The educational mandate of the school is to provide students with a “maximum degree of judgment and thorough knowledge” and to “strive for progressive, peaceful understanding among nations.”
The Nova Exhibition presents a selective depiction of the 7 October 2023 attacks, whose exact circumstances remain unclear due to the obstruction of independent investigations by the Israeli government. (See Human Rights Council Fifty-sixth session, Detailed findings on the military operations and attacks carried out in the Occupied Palestinian Territory from 7 October to 31 December 2023* Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, available here, last accessed on 12 November 2025.)
According to its website, the Nova Exhibition aims to “give visitors the opportunity to responsibly explore and bear witness to the events of 7 October and their consequences.” In reality, however, the exhibition completely omits both the human rights violations committed by the Israeli state in the Palestinian territories prior to 7 October 2023—well documented, among others, by the human rights organization B’Tselem (see B’Tselem Database on fatalities and house demolitions, last accessed 12 November 2025)—and the subsequent response of the Israeli government, which involved severe war crimes and crimes against humanity against the civilian population of Gaza as well as the broader Palestinian population. (See, among others, Al-Haq From the Field; Amnesty International.)
- Violation of § 2(1) and § 4(2) – Right to discrimination-free education
“Every young person has a right to future-oriented, discrimination-free schooling and education, regardless in particular of any possible disability, ethnic origin, racist or antisemitic ascription, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, faith, religious or political beliefs, language, nationality, or the social and family background of the student or their guardians, or for comparable reasons.”
and
“Schools are obliged to protect pupils from discrimination on the grounds listed in § 2 paragraph 1.”
The explicit recommendation to visit the non-contextualized exhibition—as described under the violation of § 1—violates the right of Palestinian students to discrimination-free schooling, regardless of ethnic origin, racist ascription, or religious or political beliefs. Neither the Nova Exhibition nor the recommended accompanying pedagogical materials address the events before or after 7 October, even in the most basic sense. This concerns in particular—though not exclusively—the crime of apartheid against Palestinians committed by Israel (documented, among others, by Amnesty International, last accessed 12 November 2025); as well as the war crimes against the Palestinian civilian population following 7 October, which have been classified as genocidal.
- Violation of § 3 (2):
“Students shall in particular learn independent learning, critical use of information, independent formation of opinion, openness toward other opinions, honesty and self-criticism, appropriate use of media, logical thinking, conflict-free resolution and the ability to endure conflict.”
The recommendation of the already described one-sided, non-contextualized exhibition and the accompanying “pedagogical” toolkit is not compatible with the goals of “independent learning, critical use of information, independent formation of opinion, openness toward other opinions and appropriate use of media”
The recommended pedagogical toolkit does not promote any of these aims. It partially relies on unsupported claims rather than facts (e.g., Supporting Materials, p. 2: “Thousands of armed terrorists”—since the events have not been independently investigated, this vague number lacks any empirical basis). It claims that the Nova Exhibition teaches “facts” without specifying which facts or in what context (Supporting Materials, p. 2). It pre-empts independent opinion formation by interpreting the attack as purely antisemitic while excluding the political-historical context (e.g., Supporting Materials, p. 11: “October 7 was a crime against people because they were Jews”). It undermines critical information use and appropriate media literacy by providing one-dimensional definitions as the only option (e.g., Supporting Materials, p. 5: “Zionism: recognition of the existence of Israel and the right of Jews to their own state”), and by citing a Spiegel article as its source.
- Violation of § 3 (3):
Education shall enable students, among other things, to develop respectful, equal, and nonviolent relationships, justice for all, understanding of their own and other cultures, peaceful coexistence, and intercultural competence.
The exhibition and the recommended accompanying pedagogical material— as already explained—contradict the goals of “peaceful coexistence,” “intercultural competence,” and “justice for all.”
2. Violation of the Beutelsbach Consensus
The recommendation to visit the Nova Exhibition fundamentally violates the principles anchored in the Beutelsbach Consensus: the prohibition of overwhelming (no indoctrination), the requirement to address political and scientific controversies in the classroom, and the empowerment of students to analyze their own interests in political situations.
Prohibition of overwhelming:
The aim of the Nova Exhibition is to make the events of 7 October 2023 “immersive” and “emotionally experienceable.” To evoke emotional identification with the events, elements of emotional overwhelming are used—meaning that the emotions generated in participants can no longer be critically reflected upon. The political complexity of the situation is thus reduced to emotional simplicity. (See, for example, The Nova Exhibition – immersive entertainment and deceptive unambiguity, Debate, last accessed 12 November 2025.)
Requirement of controversiality:
By excluding any historical and political context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Nova Exhibition and the recommended accompanying toolkit prevent a controversial engagement with the topic, one that incorporates multiple perspectives and enables students to critically analyze their own interests in a political situation.
3. Violation of pedagogical professionalism
A violation of pedagogical professionalism occurred through the recommendation of the accompanying “pedagogical toolkit” by MIND prevention gGmbH. It must be noted that another project by MIND prevention gGmbH has already been deemed scientifically invalid by three separate expert reviews. These reviews criticized, in particular:
- the lack of “presentation of empirically verifiable hypotheses,”
- the “deficit-oriented view of people with migration backgrounds and Muslim religiosity,”
- and the assumption that antisemitic attitudes are “per se given” in a “Muslim cultural sphere”
Nonetheless, the supporting materials for the Nova Exhibition—showing similar shortcomings—were recommended in the 3 November 2025 letter to all Berlin secondary school principals, without, to our knowledge, undergoing any quality review. It also remains unclear based on which criteria this material was developed, funded, and recommended.
Professional standards were thus ignored, and materials were promoted that do not meet the requirements of critical, differentiated political education.
4. Violation of the duty of care toward students
The exhibition contains explicit depictions of armed violence and sexualized violence that are unsuitable for minors and may trigger (re-)traumatization.
The deliberate emotional overwhelming of students contradicts fundamental principles of mental health and child welfare.
Demands
We demand:
- The immediate withdrawal of the promotion of the Nova Exhibition to Berlin schools.
- Disciplinary measures against Mr. Ulrich Hagemann and the responsible staff of the Senate Department.
- Compliance with the Berlin School Act and the Beutelsbach Consensus, as well as the development of balanced, multiperspective educational materials.
We request an immediate response and the initiation of necessary measures. Otherwise, we reserve the right to consider legal action and to forward the complaint to higher authorities.
Contact for inquiries: m.leibnitz@gmx.de
Kind regards
Mirja Leibnitz
Sabine Bretz
CC to:
Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family (Administrative Supervision)
Berlin House of Representatives, Committee on Education, Youth and Family
beschwerdemanagement@senbjf.berlin.de (https://www.berlin.de/sen/bjf/service/qu alitaets-und-beschwerdemanagement/)
GEW Berlin, State Committee for Migration, Diversity and Anti-Discrimination (LAMA)
GEW Berlin, Working Group on Peace Education and Peace Policy
State Parents’ Committee of Berlin
