trotzdem da!
trotzdem da!

The project

Lucy Debus und Katharina Saemann bei Aufnahmen für einen Fernsehbeitrag

“nevertheless here!” employee Lucy Debus and project participant Katharina Sämann filming for a TV programme, 7 March 2023

Many participants told their life stories in newspaper, TV, and radio reports for the “never­theless here!” project. As a result, it was possible to recruit more children from forbidden relationships for the project.

Photo: Jan Dohrmann. Sandbostel Camp Memorial

The Sandbostel Camp Memorial in Lower Saxony has long been in contact with people born from relationships between German women and prisoners of war from Stalag X-B Sandbostel during the Second World War. Some of them are closely associated with the memorial, participating as contemporary witnesses or supporting the commemorative work as volunteers. Inspired by their life stories, in 2023 the memorial launched the international research and exhibition project entitled “nevertheless here!”

The first task was to identify potential participants inside and outside Germany. Unlike for many victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants, however, there are no special self-organisations or support facilities for children from forbidden relationships between Germans and prisoners of war or forced labourers. Even so, thanks to broadly based public relations work and extensive research, the project was able to recruit more than 20 children from that time. With their memories, documents, and photos, they laid the crucial foundation for the realisation of this travelling exhibition.

Project forums at the Sandbostel Camp Memorial

Two meetings with a total of 14 project participants took place as part of the project. They travelled to Sandbostel from Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. For many, it was their first encounter with people who have a biography similar to their own. For some, it was also the first time they spoke to strangers about their history. The meetings were very open and personal. Despite many differences in their biographies, the participants saw what they had in common. The project forums were also used to involve project participants in the conceptual design of this travelling exhibition.

trotzdem da!-Ein Projekt der Gedenkstätte Lager Sandbostel-Projektforum

The participants of the first “never­theless here!” project forum at the Sandbostel Camp Memorial, 29 September 2023

Nine project participants and their travelling companions met to exchange ideas with each other and with the exhibition team.

Photo: Johanna Becker. Sandbostel Camp Memorial.

trotzdem da!-Ein Projekt der Gedenkstätte Lager Sandbostel-weitere Projektteilnehmende

“nevertheless here!” employees Lucy Debus (left) and Jan Dohrmann (2nd from right) with four project participants in Uelzen, 14 February 2024

Hans Schneider, Irmgard O., Véronique Lindstedt, and Gerd Raatz (from left) live in or near Uelzen in Lower Saxony. They are children of French prisoners of war. They got to know each other through the “nevertheless here!” project.

Photo: Ursula Raatz. Sandbostel Camp Memorial

Interviews preserve life stories

For the development of this travelling exhibition, the “nevertheless here!” project team was only able to draw on a small number of studies and historical sources related to children from forbidden relationships between Germans and prisoners of war or forced labourers. Hence, the life story interviews recorded by the team and their analysis are an important source for the project. The video and audio recordings will be transferred to the archive of the Sandbostel Camp Memorial and thus will be available for research and academic studies.

Lebensgeschichtliches Interview mit Gabriele Lapp

Life story interview with Gabriele Lapp in Hamburg, 19 April 2024

Gabriele Lapp spent decades campaigning for the remembrance of Nazi crimes. Her own life story as the daughter of a French forced labourer had previously never been the focus of attention.

Photo: Markus Fiedler. Sandbostel Camp Memorial

“Now I no longer feel alone.”

Gerd Raatz, son of a German woman and a French prisoner of war, during the first “nevertheless here!” project forum, 2023

Workshops with Multi-peRSPEKTif

Multi-peRSPEKTif is a project organised by the Bunker Valentin memorial site in Bremen, in which young people, mainly with an international background, explore places with a National Socialist history. The activists of Multi-peRSPEKTif held two workshops dealing with forbidden relationships between Germans and prisoners of war or forced labourers. They also met with the “nevertheless here!” project participants Katharina Sämann and Gerd A. Meyer for a conversation. Together, they discussed what kind of significance that life stories like those of Katharina and Gerd can have today, and how the Multi-peRSPEKTif activists relate to such stories, given their own experiences of racism and sexism and their search for identity in their countries of origin and in Germany.

Film documentary The Lion is Telling the Story of the Forest by Anastasia Zeller, 2024

The second Multi-peRSPEKTif workshop with a tour of Selsingen-Haaßel, Gerd A. Meyer’s hometown in the District of Rotenburg (Wümme) in Lower Saxony, was followed on film.

The project

The Sandbostel Camp Memorial in Lower Saxony has long been in contact with people born from relationships between German women and prisoners of war from Stalag X-B Sandbostel during the Second World War. Some of them are closely associated with the memorial, participating as contemporary witnesses or supporting the commemorative work as volunteers. Inspired by their life stories, in 2023 the memorial launched the international research and exhibition project entitled “nevertheless here!”

The first task was to identify potential participants inside and outside Germany. Unlike for many victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants, however, there are no special self-organisations or support facilities for children from forbidden relationships between Germans and prisoners of war or forced labourers. Even so, thanks to broadly based public relations work and extensive research, the project was able to recruit more than 20 children from that time. With their memories, documents, and photos, they laid the crucial foundation for the realisation of this travelling exhibition.

Lucy Debus und Katharina Saemann bei Aufnahmen für einen Fernsehbeitrag

“nevertheless here!” employee Lucy Debus and project participant Katharina Sämann filming for a TV programme, 7 March 2023

Many participants told their life stories in newspaper, TV, and radio reports for the “never­theless here!” project. As a result, it was possible to recruit more children from forbidden relationships for the project.

Photo: Jan Dohrmann. Sandbostel Camp Memorial

Project forums at the Sandbostel Camp Memorial

Two meetings with a total of 14 project participants took place as part of the project. They travelled to Sandbostel from Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. For many, it was their first encounter with people who have a biography similar to their own. For some, it was also the first time they spoke to strangers about their history. The meetings were very open and personal. Despite many differences in their biographies, the participants saw what they had in common. The project forums were also used to involve project participants in the conceptual design of this travelling exhibition.

trotzdem da!-Ein Projekt der Gedenkstätte Lager Sandbostel-Projektforum

The participants of the first “never­theless here!” project forum at the Sandbostel Camp Memorial, 29 September 2023

Nine project participants and their travelling companions met to exchange ideas with each other and with the exhibition team.

Photo: Johanna Becker. Sandbostel Camp Memorial.

trotzdem da!-Ein Projekt der Gedenkstätte Lager Sandbostel-weitere Projektteilnehmende

“nevertheless here!” employees Lucy Debus (left) and Jan Dohrmann (2nd from right) with four project participants in Uelzen, 14 February 2024

Hans Schneider, Irmgard O., Véronique Lindstedt, and Gerd Raatz (from left) live in or near Uelzen in Lower Saxony. They are children of French prisoners of war. They got to know each other through the “nevertheless here!” project.

Photo: Ursula Raatz. Sandbostel Camp Memorial

Interviews preserve life stories

For the development of this travelling exhibition, the “nevertheless here!” project team was only able to draw on a small number of studies and historical sources related to children from forbidden relationships between Germans and prisoners of war or forced labourers. Hence, the life story interviews recorded by the team and their analysis are an important source for the project. The video and audio recordings will be transferred to the archive of the Sandbostel Camp Memorial and thus will be available for research and academic studies.

Lebensgeschichtliches Interview mit Gabriele Lapp

Life story interview with Gabriele Lapp in Hamburg, 19 April 2024

Gabriele Lapp spent decades campaigning for the remembrance of Nazi crimes. Her own life story as the daughter of a French forced labourer had previously never been the focus of attention.

Photo: Markus Fiedler. Sandbostel Camp Memorial

“Now I no longer feel alone.”

Gerd Raatz, son of a German woman and a French prisoner of war, during the first “nevertheless here!” project forum, 2023

Workshops with Multi-peRSPEKTif

Multi-peRSPEKTif is a project organised by the Bunker Valentin memorial site in Bremen, in which young people, mainly with an international background, explore places with a National Socialist history. The activists of Multi-peRSPEKTif held two workshops dealing with forbidden relationships between Germans and prisoners of war or forced labourers. They also met with the “nevertheless here!” project participants Katharina Sämann and Gerd A. Meyer for a conversation. Together, they discussed what kind of significance that life stories like those of Katharina and Gerd can have today, and how the Multi-peRSPEKTif activists relate to such stories, given their own experiences of racism and sexism and their search for identity in their countries of origin and in Germany.

Film documentary The Lion is Telling the Story of the Forest by Anastasia Zeller, 2024

The second Multi-peRSPEKTif workshop with a tour of Selsingen-Haaßel, Gerd A. Meyer’s hometown in the District of Rotenburg (Wümme) in Lower Saxony, was followed on film.

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