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More than 20 million people were exploited and enslaved as forced labourers under National Socialism. The victims came from almost all European countries as well as the countries of the former Soviet Union.
Not only large corporations in war-related industries profited from Forced Labour, but also small workshops and farms. The fates and continuing significance of this Nazi injustice in its European perspective have never been anchored in the communicative memory.

Onboarding Memories wants to use new approaches - such as immersive digital elements – so that the perspective of the victims can be experienced newly and above all emotionally. The relics - video interviews, photographs, documents - already available in archives are used and integrated into new settings.

Read more: PROJECT || Onboarding memories. Digital memory spaces on the topic of Nazi Forced Labour

We are delighted to announce that the second stage of the renovation of the open-air exhibition 'Courage and Reconciliation' is now underway. This time, the renovation work focused primarily on the benches in the amphitheatre, which have been badly damaged after years of use and exposure to the elements.

"Courage and Reconciliation" is the title of a permanent outdoor exhibition in Krzyżowa prepared by the Polish History Museum in cooperation with the Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe. On 20 November 2014, the exhibition was officially opened by Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz and Chancellor Angela Merkel. The exhibition was created on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Reconciliation Mass.

Read more: Renovation of the exhibition "Courage and Reconciliation"

After the pandemic break in 2020, we want to invite participants from Germany and Poland to meet face to face again in Oświęcim and Krzyżowa. This year's edition of the "Roads of Freedom" seminar treats the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Good Neighbourship and Friendly Cooperation as an opportunity to take a critical look at this neighborhood and to engage in nurturing it. 

The program is devoted, inter alia, to the planned "Place of Remembrance and Meetings with Poland" (Monument of Poland) in Berlin and the languages ​​of neighboring countries. As always, each point of the program will be an opportunity for a lively exchange of views between participants. Interpreters will be present during the seminar to help participants forget about the language barrier.

The event will only take place if the pandemic situation allows it.

Read more: ||Invitation|| "Roads of Freedom" Seminar - 1-7.10.2021

On Saturday, 21 August 2021, a Netherlands-German-Polish cycling expedition set off from Oświęcim in Poland to Westerbork in the Netherlands on a route of 1320 km. Sixty young people from Poland, Germany and the Netherlands - mostly students - took part in the unusual journey to celebrate 75 (+1) years of peace and freedom in Europe. One of the stops of the rally was Krzyżowa - a place of reconciliation.

"Terug naar Westerbork" ("Back to Westerbork") is a Netherlands initiative to commemorate the 2020 commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. The rally was originally planned for last year, but due to the coronavirus pandemic it took place in 2021. 

Read more: Participants of the cycling rally "Back to Westerbork" in Krzyżowa - 23.08.2021