Thematic semester of the Viadrina Student Council for Cultural Studies on coming to terms with the Holocaust and commemorating the victims of National Socialist tyranny.
Thematic semester of the Viadrina Student Council for Cultural Studies on coming to terms with the Holocaust and commemorating the victims of National Socialist tyranny.
This semester, we have made it our task to take a closer look at the era of National Socialism. The number of Holocaust denials and trivializations, as well as the number of right-wing extremist violent crimes have increased steadily in recent years. In addition, the last contemporary witnesses who had to experience the atrocities and horrors of the National Socialists inside and outside the concentration camps are currently falling silent. To ensure that their voices continue to be heard, we invite you to join us in contemplating the darkest chapter of German history and to take responsibility for ensuring that nothing like this ever happens again. You will find the program further down on this page.
The Student Council Law and the Student Council Cultural Studies together with Prof. Dr. Hafkemeyer invite you to the evening lecture on 17.04.2023 at 18:00. In the Senate Hall of the European University Viadrina, Mr. Hafkemeyer will take us on a journey into the past and introduce us to the events between Krakow and Auschwitz between 1933 and 1945, as well as give us a deeper insight into the legal structure of the Nazi regime. This will be followed by a panel discussion with our guests on the relevance and consequences of the Nazi era. It will be an evening full of experiences, memories and new insights to which we would like to cordially invite you.
Participation is only possible with prior registration!
On 27.05.2023 we will visit the House of the Wannsee Conference. On January 20, 1942, the so-called Wannsee Conference took place in the villa at Grosser Wannsee 58, where high-ranking representatives of National Socialist Germany discussed the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”. The conference is of great historical importance, because it served the coordination necessary for the expansion of the genocide to almost all of Europe.
When:
Saturday, May 27th, 2023
Meeting place:
09:30 AM at Frankfurt (Oder) train station.
Bahnhofsplatz 11
15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
Participation fee:
Free of charge, but the semester ticket is required for travel.
Participation is only possible with prior registration!
When:
Saturday, June 17th, 2023
Meeting Point:
11:30 AM at Frankfurt (Oder) train station.
Bahnhofsplatz 11
15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
Participation fee:
Free of charge, but the semester ticket is required for travel.
Participation is only possible with prior registration!
In the Prussian village of Ravensbrück, near the former Mecklenburg climatic health resort of Fürstenberg, the SS had the largest women’s concentration camp on German territory built starting in 1939. In spring 1939, the first female prisoners were transferred from the Lichtenburg concentration camp to Ravensbrück. In April 1941, a men’s camp was attached, which was also under the commandant of the women’s camp. In June 1942, the so-called “Uckermark Youth Camp” for young women and girls was added in the immediate vicinity. The women’s concentration camp was constantly expanded until 1945. The SS had more and more barracks erected as prisoners’ quarters, and in the fall of 1944 also a tent. Within the camp walls, an “industrial yard” was built with production facilities for traditional women’s work such as tailoring, weaving and braiding. Next to the concentration camp grounds, the Siemens & Halske company built 20 factory halls where prisoners were conscripted into forced labor starting in late summer 1942. As the war progressed, more than 40 subcamps were established throughout the Reich where Ravensbrück prisoners performed forced labor.
When:
Thursday, 29.06.2023
Meeting place:
10:00 AM. at Frankfurt (Oder) train station.
Bahnhofsplatz 11
15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
Participation fee:
Free of charge, but semester ticket is required for travel.
Registration for participation is mandatory! Please also note the long journey to and from the event (approx. 3 hrs. per trip).
At the end of our thematic semester, we would like to travel with you to the Auschwitz memorial site. We will deal with the questions of remembrance culture as well as guilt on site and actively deal with the reappraisal of National Socialist crimes. We will spend the night in the international meeting place Auschwitz and will also have seminar rooms available. On 22.07. we will make a day trip to Krakow. The number of participants is limited to 40.
If you have any questions, please feel free to send us an email.
When?
19.07. – 23.07.2023
Participation fee:
50 €
Overnight stays:
We will spend four nights at the Auschwitz International Youth Retreat Center.
Other:
The Protestant university chaplain Reinhard Menzel will accompany us on this trip and will have an open ear for you.
Program:
Day 1 (19.07.2023):
– Arrival by regional train and Eurocity via Rzepin and Katowice to Oświęcim (Auschwitz).
– Dinner together.
Day 2 (20.07.2023):
– Breakfast together.
– Visit to the Auschwitz Memorial (main camp – Auschwitz I) and guided tour.
– free time
– dinner together
Day 3 (21.07.2023):
– Breakfast together
– Visit to Auschwitz Memorial (Auschwitz-Birkenau – Auschwitz II) and guided tour
– free time
– dinner together
Day 4 (22.07.2023):
– Breakfast together
– Excursion to Krakow with a thematic event
-leisure time
– dinner together
Day 5 (23.07.2023):
– Breakfast together
– departure by regional train and Eurocity via Katowice and Rzepin back to Frankfurt (Oder)
We are looking forward to your participation!
Participation is only possible with prior registration!
Auschwitz can be very stressful psychologically, so we urge you to also register in advance for a visit to the Sachsenhausen Memorial on 17.06.2023 or the Ravensbrück Memorial on 29.06.2023.
