Center for German and European Studies

Getting to Know Each Other - Despite Everything

Lessons from the dialogue between descendants of victims of Nazi persecution and the descendants of Nazi perpetrators at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial

Monday, September 19, 2022
12 - 1:30 pm Eastern Time (US)
Zoom Webinar

View Recording

About the Event

In Germany, descendants of victims of Nazi persecution and descendants of Nazi perpetrators live side by side, often not knowing about their respective family backgrounds. What do they talk about once they have found out about their different family histories? What can they take away from such meetings? How can society benefit from such a dialogue?

The facilitators of the workshop series “Getting to know each other – despite everything!” which was held at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial (Hamburg, Germany) between 2016 and 2018 will present their unique approach to leading dialogue sessions about family history, explore possibilities and limitations of such encounters and how their findings could be applied in other dialogue groups.

The Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial has been a pioneer in the field of family history during the time of National Socialism and World War II, organizing conferences, seminars and workshops. The observations made during the “Getting to know each other” workshops have influenced the Memorial’s approach to bringing together people with diverse family histories, most recently the multi-media educational project “#Whatdoyouwanttodo?” about the present-day relevance of family history between 1933 and 1945.

*Drawing courtesy of Natyada Tawonsri.

About the Speakers

Ulrich Gantz is a volunteer at the Neuengamme   concentration Camp Memorial. He is engaged in the dialogue between the descendants of Nazi perpetrators and those of the persecuted, amongst others in the French-German project “Mémoire à quatre voix”. Together with Swenja-Granzow Rauwald he held the workshop “Getting to know each other – despite everything” at the Neuengamme concentration camp memorial site. He is featured in the documentary film “NACHLASS” (Legacy).

Mr. Gantz is the son of Helmut Gantz, a police captain and member of Einsatzgruppe B in the former Soviet Union in 1941. *Headshot courtesy of Mark Mühlhaus/attenzione photographers.

Swenja Granzow-Rauwald is a political scientist working on the multi-media project “#Whatdoyouwanttodo?” and other media pedagogy projects at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial. Previously, she developed and conducted workshops and seminars for young people and adults at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, in particular about family history. Together with Ulrich Gantz she created and facilitated the workshop series "Getting to know each other - despite all that" (2016-2018).

Ms. Granzow-Rauwald is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors from Hungary and very active in the Amicale Internationale KZ Neuengamme, the international organization for survivors and descendants of prisoners of the Neuengamme concentration camp.