Seminaria

The European summer Camp “Forgotten Histories” organized in cooperation with Action Reconciliation Service for Peace took place 10.-20.08.2024 in the International Youth Meeting Center in Oświęcim. 26 participants from 3 EU countries (Germany, Poland, Sweden) met for 10 days to learn, to discuss and to contribute to the remembrance and preservation of Auschwitz’s history.

The aim of the project was to support remembrance work on the Auschwitz subcamps and other places related to the Auschwitz camp complex, gather knowledge and debate on the topics of National Socialism and the Holocaust and talk about current forms of anti-Semitism and other forms of exclusion and discrimination.

Trough guided tours and workshops the participants learnt about the  history of the Holocaust and Auschwitz but also about the Jewish-Polish  history of the city Oswiecim. They discussed what consequences the  committed crimes have until today and which mechanism and processes of anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of exclusion they can observe today. On one day of the program they carried out maintenance work at  the Jewish cemetery in Oświęcim.

For the project they were working in small groups on  different places of the Auschwitz camp complex. They researched the histories of this places, gathered testimonies of survivors, conducted  on-site researches to find remains and traces as well as memorial signs and marked the locations on the today's map, so that  in the future visitors can also visit these places independently.

The places which had been researched were: subcamp Babitz, subcamp Harmense, subcamp Plawy, subcamp Raisko, the camp extension (“Lagererweiterung”) and the living area and houses of the SS-Garrison around the former main camp Auschwitz I. 

The hands-on nature of the research empowered participants to contribute meaningfully to the preservation of Auschwitz’s history, ensuring their historical significance is preserved, even where physical remains were scarce and helped to raise awareness about the less-commemorated parts of this historical site. Additionally, the group participated in maintenance work at the Jewish cemetery in Oswiecim, directly contributing to preserving local heritage. 

The work conducted in this summer camp was a continuation of the work done in 2023.

This summer camp was funded by the European Union within the program CERV (“Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values”).