“The Wehrmacht’s invasion of the Soviet Union 80 years ago is not present enough in the German memory,” states Professor Susanne Schattenberg, director of the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen (FSO). It was the start of the German Reich’s war of extermination against the citizens of the Soviet Union. “Around 28 million people, including 2.9 million Jews, lost their lives through war operations, murder, and genocide.” Thus, nearly half of the Jews murdered under Nazi regime came from the Soviet Union.
With the memorial event “How to Commemorate? - 80 Years Post Invasion,” Bremen State Senate would like to remember this event in cooperation with the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen and the State Office for Political Education (“Landeszentrale für politische Bildung”).
Program
After a historical introduction by Susanne Schattenberg, director of the Research Centre for East European Studies, the German-Hungarian author Katja Petrowskaja will read a chapter from her book “Vielleicht Esther,” which received the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in 2013. In literary form, the author reconstructs the fate of her Jewish family in Hungary and Eastern Europe. Many of her family members were shot and killed after the Wehrmacht’s invasion and were murdered during the subsequent Holocaust. Petrowskaja’s great grandmother was murdered during the massacre of Babi Yar, where the German Wehrmacht shot and killed over 33,000 Jews from Kiev within two days in September 1941.
After the reading, the journalist Michaela Herold from Radio Bremen will host a discussion panel with Katja Petrowskaja, Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte, Susanne Schattenberg, and Thomas Köcher, the director of the State Office for Political Education. The topic of discussion will be what role the war played for families there and here and how it is possible to suitably remember these days and crimes now.
Further Information:
“How to Commemorate? - 80 Years Post Invasion”
7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 30
Reading and discussion on the war of extermination against the Soviet Union
with Katja Petrowskaja, Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte, and others.
Link to the event: www.rathaus.bremen.de/wieerinnern
https://www.forschungsstelle.uni-bremen.de/en/
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Susanne Schattenberg
Research Centre for East European Studies
University of Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-69624
Cell phone: 0160 732 38 02
Email: schattenbergprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
