Women doing forced labour in the quarry of KZ Krakau-Plaszow | © Archiv des Instituts des Nationalen Gedenkens/Instytut Pamięci Narodowej

Keeping the Memory Alive. Slave and forced labourers of the Third Reich from Poland 1939–1945

14|09–29|10|2017

The exhibition „Keeping Memories Alive: Slave and Forced Labourers from Poland during the Third Reich 1939–1945“ will open at the Munich Documentation Centre on 14 September. The exhibition is the result of a cooperation between the Foundation for Polish-German Reconciliation and the Nazi Forced Labour Documentation Centre in Berlin-Schöneweide. The story of the inhumane system of forced labour will be told through individual fates. Reconstructed using a combination of photographs, documents and personal accounts, these biographies testify to the exploitation and suffering endured by the almost three million Polish slave and forced labourers under the Nazi regime.

A separate section of the exhibition was devoted to the history of the preserved forced labour camp in the Munich suburb of Neuaubing. A branch of the NS-Dokumentationszentrum München will be established at this historic location over the next years.

The accompanying programme of film screenings, conversations with contemporary witnesses and discussions was realised in cooperation with the Consulate-General of the Republic of Poland in Munich and the Foundation for Polish-German Reconciliation.

Programme overview:

Wed 20|09|2017 Discussion with a contemporary witness: Bogdan Bartnikowski – Memories of Life behind Barbed-Wire

Thu 28|09|2017 Film screening and discussion: Everyday Life of Forced Labourers in Munich and Bavaria

Sun 15|10|2017 Guided tour: The Former Forced Labour Camp at Neuaubing Forced Labour Camp Neuaubing Memorial Site

Thu 19|10|2017 Film screening and discussion: Pryvít Kiev! Searching for Traces of Nazi Forced Labour

Wed 25|10|2017 Film screening and discussion: In the Sands of Brandenburg – Nella sabbia del Brandeburgo

Thu 26|10|2017 Discussion with a contemporary witness: Stanisław Zalewski – The Days of Our Youth

Each Tuesday, 17.30 p.m.: Free guided tours through the special exhibition

> Download programme leaflet (in German) | PDF | 2,1 MB

> Download excerpt from programme booklet 04/2017 (in German) | PDF | 2,8 MB

Penal camp at Krakau/Krakow, 1945–1944 | Archiv des Instituts des Nationalen Gedenkens/Instytut Pamięci Narodowej

Forced labourer Marianna Żołądek at a camp in Austriain, August 1943. Hidden under the woolen blanket she holds her son, who was born still in Poland in July 1943. | © Foundation for Polish-German Reconciliation

Karolina Sowińska, a forced labourer Vlinderco-Werke in Hildesheim from October 1943 to April 1945 | © Foundation for Polish-German Reconciliation

Arbeitskarte (work pass) of Martino Rivolta from Italy, who had to do forced labour at the Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk (RAW) Neuaubing (railway workshop of the Reichsbahn) | © Private property

View of disused Barrack 5 at the former forced labourer camp at Neuaubing, July 2017 | © Jens Weber

View of the exhibition „Keeping the Memory alive“ | © Jens Weber

To top