"The Nazis Called Them 'Anti-Social Elements' and 'Professional Criminals.' Stories of Persecution Under National Socialism and in the Federal Republic of Germany"* With Ines Eichmüller and Mascha Krink, descendants of concentration camp prisoners who wore the black triangle.
They were persecuted. Many of them were murdered. After 1945, they were denied.
No one was ever justifiably deported to a concentration camp, tortured, or murdered. Nevertheless, it took until 2020 for the German Bundestag to recognize as victims of the Nazi regime those who were forced to wear the black or green triangle in the concentration camps. For decades, they were excluded from public remembrance. Many families remained silent out of shame, fear, or because they were repeatedly told that their relatives had not been “real” victims. To this day, few people know why these women and men were persecuted. Yet their story is not merely about the past. It also shows how quickly poverty, exclusion, and social prejudice can strip people of their rights. This reading brings these long-suppressed life stories to light and restores the names and dignity of those who were persecuted.
Mascha Krink and Ines Eichmüller will read from stories of persecution, exclusion, and the long struggle for recognition, powerfully illustrating why such stories must be told today.
The reading takes place as part of our accompanying program for the special exhibition “The Denied: Victims of National Socialism, 1933–1945–Today” at the Prora Documentation Center.
*Edited by Frank Nonnenmacher, Frankfurt/New York (Campus) 2024
