Events
Please note, the main language of all events is German - unless differently noted.
Nazi forced labour on our doorstep
Series of events 12 Berlin districts, 12 events
80 years ago, in 1942, forced labour became a mass phenomenon in Berlin. As the war wore on, the German economy's need for labour grew immeasurably. In March 1942, the Nazi regime created a central authority, the "General Plenipotentiary for the Deployment of Labour", to organise the deportation of more and more people more efficiently. Hundreds of new accommodation camps were built in Berlin as part of the "Lagerbauaktion 1942".
The series takes a look at the individual Berlin districts in 12 events. What does this crime, which took place on our doorstep, have to do with our society today? And why did it take so long to come to terms with it? Lectures, readings, film screenings and discussions are planned as part of the series of events. The focus will be on places of forced labour that have only recently been "rediscovered".
Thursday, 20 January 2022, 6 pm
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Museum, online
Thursday, 17 February 2022, 6 pm
Treptow-Köpenick Museums, Treptow-Köpenick Adult Education Centre, Baumschulenstr. 79-81
Thursday, 17 March 2022, 6 p.m.
Museum Reinickendorf, Alt-Hermsdorf 35
Thursday, 7 April 2022, 6 p.m.
Citadel Zitadelle, Am Juliusturm 64
Thursday, 19 May 2022, 6 pm
Mitte Museum, Pankstr. 47
Thursday, 16 June 2022, 6 p.m.
FHXB Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum, Adalbertstr. 95A
Thursday, 14 July 2022, 6 p.m.
Tempelhof Schöneberg museums, information point heavy load body, General-Pape-Str. 100
Thursday, 25 August 2022, 6 p.m.
Department of Culture Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Schwartzsche Villa, Grunewaldstr. 55
Thursday, 22 September 2022, 6 p.m.
Museum Pankow, Prenzlauer Allee 227-228
Thursday, 20 October 2022, 6 p.m.
Marzahn-Hellersdorf District Museum, Alt-Marzahn 51
Thursday, 17 November 2022, 6 p.m.
Museum Neukölln, Alt-Britz 81
Thursday, 8 December 2022, 6 p.m.
Museum Lichtenberg, Türrschmidtstr. 24
Forced Labour in the Berlin Districts. Part 2
Treptow-Köpenick - Forced Labour and Commemoration in Adlershof and Baumschulenweg
An audio tour on forced labour was recently inaugurated in Treptow-Köpenick, and another memorial plaque is in preparation.
The "audio tour on Nazi forced labour in Adlershof" was opened in September 2021. Thomas Irmer talks about his historical research: accommodation camps, work sites and companies that profited from exploitation. Afterwards, the project team will present the audio tour in a round of talks.
Andreas Freiberg has researched the traces of National Socialism and forced labour in the Baumschulenweg district. The local historian is the initiator of 17 Stolpersteine and is committed to making forced labour visible. A memorial plaque planned in Baumschulenweg is based on his initiative.
Welcome:
Agathe Conradi, Director of the Treptow-Köpenick Museums.
Greeting:
Dr. Christine Glauning, Director of the Nazi Forced Labour Documentation Centre.
Lecture:
Thomas Irmer, historian, political scientist, curator of numerous exhibitions.
Project presentation:
Roland Borchers (Nazi Forced Labour Documentation Centre), Agathe Conradi, Thomas Irmer, Matthias Wiedebusch (Treptow-Köpenick Museums).
Lecture: Andreas Freiberg
Baumschulenweg Citizens' Association
A 12-part series of events in cooperation with the Berlin Regional Museums (January-December 2022).
The German Occupation and the Holocaust in Greece 1941-1944
Thursday, 24.02.2022 | 7 pm | online
In the new year, the Nazi Forced Labor Documentation Center will address the history of the occupation of Greece by German troops during World War II, which is hardly known in Germany.
Dr. Iason Chandrinos (University of Regensburg) will give an overview of the circumstances of the occupation, which led, among other things, to a famine with about one hundred thousand deaths. He describes the forced labour ordered by the Germans for non-Jewish and Jewish Greeks, as well as the holocaust of Greek Jews from Salonika, Athens and other Greek regions. Chandrinos, who has just published on the Jewry of Athens under the German occupation, will focus particularly on the forced labour to which the Jews of Saloniki were subjected.
Thomas Schleissing-Niggemann will read from the memoirs of two survivors from Saloniki: Shaul Chazan and Josef Sackar.
Welcome:
Dr. Christine Glauning, Director of the Nazi Forced Labor Documentation Center.
Lecture:
Dr. Iason Chandrinos, historian (University of Regensburg).
Lecture:
Thomas Schleissing-Niggemann
In the service of the National Socialist war
The first airport in Schönefeld
27.04.2022 | 7 pm | online
The company operating Berlin's new airport, Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH, has commissioned scientists to research the history of Schönefeld Airport under National Socialism. For as early as 1933, the Henschel company began building an airfield and an aircraft factory there. From 1936 onwards, Henschel produced Junkers and Dornier aircraft under licence, but subsequently also its own aircraft. Remote-controlled missiles were also tested. After the beginning of the Second World War, an increasing number of forced labourers were employed. In 1943 there were over 5,000 workers, mainly from the Soviet Union and Poland, who had to perform forced labour in the Schönefeld factory.
Prof. Christoph Bernhardt and Stefanie Brünenberg will examine both the architectural aspects of the factory and the working and living conditions of the forced labourers housed there. Dr. Lutz Budraß discusses the significance of the Schönefeld factory and the use of forced labour for the Henschel company and aircraft production in Berlin.
Welcome:
Dr. Christine Glauning, Director of the Nazi Forced Labor Documentation Center.
Lecture:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Bernhardt (Humboldt University Berlin)
Stefanie Brünenberg (Leibniz Institute for Spatial Social Research)
Commentary:
Dr. Lutz Budraß (Ruhr University Bochum)