Unheard Voices: Women & Children under German occupation in Poland - Instytut Pileckiego

Listen to a fascinating discussion on the experience of women and children under German occupation in Poland during the Second World War, more specifically in Concentration Camps like Auschwitz and Forced Labour Camps in Germany.

How did the experiences differ? Another burning question that needs to be answered is, were the strategies of survival for women, the same as for children? These are just some of the many questions that we address.

Participants:

Prof. Johannes-Dieter Steinert (University of Wolverhampton), a professor of Modern European History and Migration Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, UK (Dr. phil. University of Düsseldorf; Dr. phil. habil. University of Osnabrück). Senior Fellow at the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (2015). Yad Vashem International Book Prize for Holocaust Research 2020. Research interests: international migration and minorities, forced migration, survivors of Nazi persecution, international humanitarian assistance, and child forced labour. Current research project: Sinti and Roma child forced labourers in National Socialist Germany and German occupied Eastern Europe.

Teresa Wontor-Cichy, historian, works in the research center of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim. Her research focuses on the fates of various prisoner groups: Jehovas Witnesses/scholars of Holy Scripture, Christian clergymen, Roma, political prisoners from various European countries. She also researches the medical atrocities that were carried out at the camp. She is the author of numerous publications on these issues (e.g. Więzieni za wiarę. Świadkowie Jehowy w KL Auschwitz, Oświęcim 2002; Duchowieństwo i życie religijne w Auschwitz [in:] „Katecheta”, Poznań 2011; Życie religijne więżniów chrześcijańskich w KL Auschwitz [in:] „Głosy Pamięci”, Oświęcim 2019). She supplements her work by giving lectures on history and running educational workshops. She is also a guide at the museum, where she leads both regular visitors and school groups.

Moderator:

Lydia Roberts (University of California, Los Angeles).