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From 3 to 7 July 2017, young people from various European countries will assist in excavation work at the memorial premises and search for artifacts there. “Members of the international summer camp group can engage in international exchange during hands-on activities at the memorial,” explains Christine Bischatka, coordinator of the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace international summer camp.

The Ohrbeck labour camp was a Gestapo concentration camp that detained more than 2,000 adolescents and men from 17 countries during World War II. At the site, the project participants will learn about the fate of the prisoners and the history of the place through excavation carried out with guidance from municipal and regional archeology experts. The themes brought to light during the dig will be further explored in workshops, excursions, and a discussion with a contemporary witness. In this way, participants can incorporate their own family histories and current personal experiences.

In Osnabrück – the birthplace of the writer Erich Maria Remarque and the painter Felix Nussbaum, who was murdered in Auschwitz, but also the site of signing of the Peace of Westphalia – project participants will gain new insights into the history of the Shoah, forced labor, and persecution. This year, the organization received the Westphalian Peace Prize for this project.

(Excerpted from an Action Reconciliation Service for Peace press release)