INVITATION TO THE PRESS

Opening of the exhibition
“Forced labour. The Germans, the forced labourers and the war”

German President Christian Wulff to speak at the exhibition opening in the Jewish Museum Berlin on 27 September

More than 20 million men, women and children from nearly all European countries were either deported to National Socialist Germany as foreign workers, prisoners of war or concentration camp inmates, or had to work as forced labourers in the occupied territories. By 1942, forced labourers were part of everyday life in Germany under the National Socialist regime. The deportees, mostly from eastern countries, were deployed in all sectors: armaments, construction, agriculture, small businesses, public institutions and private households. No matter whether they were soldiers occupying Poland or farmers in Thuringia – all Germans came into contact with forced labourers, and many drew profit from it. Forced labour was no secret, it was a crime in broad public view.

The exhibition “Forced labour. The Germans, the forced labourers and the war” tells the whole history of this crime and its post-1945 consequences for the first time. The Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation curated the exhibition, which was initiated and supported by the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”. German President Christian Wulff is patron of the exhibition. The first stop on the international exhibition tour is the Jewish Museum Berlin. Further stops are planned in European capitals and in North America.

We would like to invite you to attend the press conference and the opening of the exhibition on Monday 27 September 2010.

Speakers at the press conference
Cilly Kugelmann, Programme Director, Jewish Museum Berlin
Volkhard Knigge, Director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation
Jens-Christian Wagner, Exhibition Curator and Director of the Mittelbau-Dora Memorial Site
Günter Saathoff, Co-Director of the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”

When: Monday, 27 September 2010 at 11:00*
Exhibition preview from 10:00
Where: Jewish Museum Berlin, Education Room, Old Building, Level 1

Evening programme on the opening day
Welcome
W. Michael Blumenthal, Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin
Word of welcome
German President Christian Wulff, patron of the exhibition
Remembering and understanding
Günter Saathoff, Co-Director of the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”
The exhibition
Volkhard Knigge, Director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation
Memories of a former forced labourer
Marian Turski, historian, journalist and survivor of the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps
When: Monday, 27 September 2010 at 19:00*
Where: Jewish Museum Berlin, Glass Courtyard, Ground Level
Free admission

You will find further information in the attachment and on the website, where you can also download the registration form for the press conference and opening ceremony.
www.ausstellung-zwangsarbeit.org

Contact:
Foundation EVZ
Press and public relations
Franka Kühn
Tel.: +49 (0)30 / 259297-76
kuehn@stiftung-evz.de  
www.stiftung-evz.de