Memory of Forced Labor
Memory of Forced Labor
Ukraine and Poland under National Socialism
A multi-perspective education and art project on the experiences of Ukrainian and Polish forced labourers in the Second World War.
About the project
Between 1939 and 1945 the German Reich deported more than 2.4 million people from Ukraine and around 1.7 million from Poland to forced labour. A patch on their clothing marked them out in public: OST for some, P for others.
Archive of the NGO After Silence
In German memory culture their stories remain blurred to this day. Umbrella terms such as »Soviet victims« have covered over the Ukrainian and the Polish experience; in curricula and in public they barely appear.
The project puts these biographies at the centre — through archival work, testimonies of descendants, forum theatre and freely accessible digital materials.
Multiple perspectives
Ukrainian and Polish perspectives become part of German educational programmes at universities, schools and memorial sites.
Young people
Forum theatre, archive workshops, museum labs and podcasts: participants work with the sources themselves.
Open access
The digital platform, the podcast series and the documentary stay freely available for at least five years after the project ends.
Residency »Foreign Visitors«
Archive photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J10842,
photo: Kurasch, July 1940
Six days of work with archival sources and private letters. Together with facilitators and a joker, participants develop short performances using the forum theatre method and show them publicly.
We are looking for interdisciplinary artists, actors, researchers and activists working on memory, culture and human rights.
- Dates
- 12–18 November 2026
- Performance
- 17 November 2026, Atelierhaus Gelsenkirchen
- Curator
- Eva Yakubovska
- Places
- Six — two each from Ukraine, Poland and Germany
- Conditions
- Travel, accommodation and meals are covered
Questions about your application: info@vitsche.org
From the archives
Letters sent home, ID photographs, pictures from private albums: these are the sources the residency, the seminars and the film work with.
Timeline
Team
Partners
The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) and implemented within the funding programme Education Agenda on Nazi Injustice by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ).
