The Krzyżowa Foundation is launching a new educational project 'Uprooted - (Hi)Stories of Stolen Children during World War II', dedicated to the story of children who were taken away from their families by the occupying German authorities during World War II and sent to Germany to be Germanised and brought up as citizens of the Third Reich.
After 1945, despite efforts made by the authorities of the occupied countries during the war, the Allied authorities and the Red Cross, most of these children never returned to their families. Their birth certificates were falsified and documents proving their true origins destroyed. Only a few, as adults, many years after the war, learned the truth about their origins.
The project "Uprooted" aims to present the history of children "plundered" from Poland, the Czech Republic and Ukraine, to show their fate in Nazi and later post-war Germany, and - referring to the historical experience of the 20th century - to show how important children's rights are and how often they are violated, with children becoming victims of repression by the authorities of non-democratic countries.
The planned results of the project include:
- a publication with articles popularising history, written by experts from Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Ukraine,
- an educational platform containing educational materials (films, podcasts, workshop scenarios),
- an exhibition.
The project is carried out in Poland, Germany, Czech Republic and Ukraine by the Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe (Poland), Kreisau-Initiative e.V. (Germany), Post Bellum (Czech Republic), Tolerspace (Ukraine). Kreisau Initiative e.V. is the project leader.
The project is funded by the Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Foundation (EVZ) and the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).
