»No one
was rightly
interned in a concentration camp.
The Disavowed
Nearly 80 years since the end of World War Two, there are still gaps in commemorative culture in Germany and Austria. The suffering of tens of thousands of women, men and teenagers deemed »community aliens« or »career criminals« is only gradually coming to light. These people were imprisoned in concentration camps or confined in institutions or psychiatric hospitals, and many of them were forcibly sterilised. It was not until 2020 that the German Parliament recognised the people concerned as victims of National Socialism.
Why were these people persecuted as »asocials« and »career criminals« at all? Who were they? Who participated in their persecution? Why did state and society refuse for so long to recognise them as victims? These and other questions are addressed in the travelling exhibition produced by the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial. The exhibition was opened in Berlin in October 2024.
This website presents work in progress and accompanies the exhibition.