1938 PROJEKT Remembers Kristallnacht, 80 Years On

For the 80th anniversary of the terrifying events of Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany, C&G Partners developed “1938 Projekt: Posts from the Past.” The year-long social media, website, and exhibition program presents daily archival documents that tell the story of how German-speaking Jews perceived the dreadful events in the year leading to Kristallnacht, viewed by many as the beginning of the Holocaust. Daily social media and website posts of handwritten letters, diary entries, photos and other archival documents—from the same dates in 1938—create a growing online calendar in real time. The daily drip of documents provides an eerie build-up, drawing in readers and sustaining their interest in a way that’s similar to that of reading a Holocaust-era diary today. C&G Partners recommended social media as the lead component to provide the world with a glimpse into LBI's extensive archive. Each document has a custom-designed post that is shared daily on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook with the website used as a repository for the content as it appears. The design approach, with strong, easily recognizable branding across all channels, conveys the story of 1938 by "dating" each document in chronological order as it is posted. The project’s graphic design reflects the modernist, Bauhaus style of the late 1930s. The archival documents posted on the website each day are sometimes accompanied by a brief sidebar story of a world news event from the same date in 1938 to provide historical context. The studio also crafted the PROJEKT's visual identity and accompanying physical exhibitions in New York and Berlin.