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For one week, a group of pupils from Bad Arolsen’s Christian Rauch School has studied the history of two camps for displaced persons situated in Korbach and Kassel (Hasenhecke/Wolfsanger) in the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS). Their project focused on daily life in the DP Camp, the mutual relationship between people living in the surroundings of the camp and DPs and – as far as researchable within the brief time available – single biographies of survivors of Nazi persecution and forced labour.

“The ITS is the ideal institution to cooperate with”, said history teacher Andreas Neuwöhner. “Here, the pupils are directly faced with the people’s fates and do not only absorb historical facts in theory. With the localities of Kassel and Korbach, they have a direct link to their own present life.” The pupils may deepen their knowledge at the ITS and learn more about the working methods applied in an archive.

In the course of their seven days-project, the young researchers attending the basic course in history intended to familiarize themselves with the documentary holdings in the ITS archives, look into the files on the two DP camps and want to understand what made people become displaced persons and which life they chose having been liberated and witnessed the end of Nazi persecution. “Our objective is to make transparent the persecution practice as applied by the Nazi regime by concentrating on the stories of the persecuted persons before, during and after the Nazi period,” explained Neuwöhner. Their schedule also included research in the town archives in Kassel.

The twelve pupils were supported and accompanied by the team of ITS historian Dr Susanne Urban. “We strive for a long-term cooperation with the schools in the surroundings,” said the historian. “The documents kept in the ITS archives offer a good introduction into the subject of Nazi persecution, as the victims are in the foreground here. Their specific individual fates make history more tangible. Furthermore, the documents make very clear that being freed from the yoke of National Socialism meant for the survivors to have to find and pave the way back into life. Starting life afresh was hard and often times implied having to start on scratch in another country.” Urban is hopeful: “Ideally, the history of the DPs will sensitize the pupils to take considerate and deliberate care in dealing with their fellow men and to see discriminately the many forced migrations happening to this day.”

The results of the research conducted during the seven days-project are presented in a small exhibition which will open to the public at the premises of the ITS on Friday, 30th October 2009, at 10 a.m. The exhibition can be looked at until 1st December. Moreover, the pupils participated in the celebration commemorating the pogrom night of 9th November 1938 that took place at the Jewish cemetery in Bad Arolsen.

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