#LastSeen. Pictures of Nazi Deportations

The #LastSeen. Pictures of Nazi Deportations initiative focuses on images of deportations from the German Reich between 1938 and 1945. The photos show the last moments of persecuted people before they were wrenched out of their society and murdered.

What is #LastSeen about?

Approximately 550 such photographs are known so far, but have not been collated systematically and made accessible as a collection. The project partners want to find more images and assemble as much detailed information as possible – with the support of a broad interested public.

Who is it aimed at? 

The more people help search for images and information, the more informative #LastSeen results will be. Anyone can become active in the context of the initiative: Experts involved in archives and historical research as well as committed local historians and anyone with an interest, including pupils. In eight regions the #LastSeen team is embarking on a targeted search in the hope of making new discoveries: Berlin and the surrounding area, Bavarian Swabia, Swabian Alb, Saxony Triangle, Western Pomerania, Northern Hesse, Rhine-Ruhr area as well as Bremen and Oldenburg. Scientific research is also carried out internationally, especially among descendants of Jewish survivors.

What are the expected results?

The results of the search are published on a website in the form of an annotated collection of images. In parallel with this, an interactive educational offer is being developed which decodes selected images and in this way opens access to the history of the deportations in the National Socialist era. The aim of #LastSeen is also to bring the memory into the present and to begin a conversation about the options people have when injustice occurs in front of them.

The Arolsen Archives are the world's most comprehensive records of the victims and survivors of National Socialism.

More about the project

Education Agenda NS-Injustice

The Magazine of the Education Agenda NS-InjusticeThe Magazine of the Education Agenda NS-Injustice

The Education Agenda NS-Injustice started in autumn 2021 with two certainties: Firstly, the survivors are passing away; there are few chances today to meet eyewitnesses who can tell us first-hand about the atrocities committed by the National Socialists. Secondly, we are increasingly entering contexts in which boundaries between fiction and fact are blurred. Under these conditions, we are dependent on new ways of learning and innovative forms of conveyance in our critical examination of National Socialist injustice and in historical-political educational work. In the magazine we present the funding program, projects and current debates.