Foto vom Studientag für die Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. Foto: KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme, 2010.
Study Day with students of the University of Applied Sciences Hamburg. Photograph: Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, 2010. (ANg 2014-525)

Study Days

A study day for adult groups consists of a theme-based introduction, a visit to the exhibitions and the grounds, and a more in-depth exploration of a key topic in small groups at the Centre for Historical Studies or the Open Archive. Photos, documents, films, books and other resources are available and provided for this purpose. The findings can then be structured, presented and discussed. The Study Day+ and the seminars lasting several days are designed to allow an in-depth examination of specific issues and the implementation of research-based learning. In addition to the Study Days focusing on the actions of specific Nazi-era professional groups and institutions, introductory Study Days on the history of the site itself and various key themes are also available. The programmes for these themes can be arranged individually.

Study Day
Duration: 6 hours
Costs for adults: EUR 172.00 per group

Study Day+
Duration: 7 hours
Costs for adults: EUR 172.00 per group

Seminars
If the Study Days are extended to seminars lasting several days, the costs are based on the actual time frame.

Duration: Two-Day Seminar
Costs for adults: EUR 344 per group

Duration: Three-Day Seminar
Costs for adults: EUR 516 per group

Duration: Four-Day Project Week
Costs for adults: EUR 688 per group

For more information and advice, please contact Dr Susann Lewerenz:
Phone: +49 40 428131536, email: susann.lewerenz@gedenkstaetten.hamburg.de

For bookings please contact Amina Edzards:
Phone: +49 40 428131522, email: amina.edzards@gedenkstaetten.hamburg.de

Selected theme-based Study Days:

The economy of forced labour: aspects of Nazi-era forced labour and compensation practices after the war

The seminar is dedicated to aspects of forced labour under the Nazi rule. It looks at the extent and the various forms of forced labour, examines its economic significance for the Nazi regime and for Germany after 1945, and showcases those affected and those who profited from it. It also addresses the decade-long failure to provide compensation to the victims of forced labour.

Football in concentration camps and Nazi society

The Study Day is aimed not just at groups of football fans, but also at football teams as well as club and association staff and school classes with an interest in football. Participants are able to explore the significance and purpose of football within the context of Nazi camps and National Socialist society. The focus is on the life stories of the victims of Nazi persecution and their perpetrators. Football matches played out on the Appellplatz of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp and at other camps provide the starting point for exploring the structure of the camps, the Arbeitskommandos (work details) and the everyday life of prisoners at the concentration camps.

The ‘White Buses’ rescue operation for Scandinavian prisoners

In spring 1945, following negotiations with the Swedish Red Cross, Heinrich Himmler agreed to have all Scandinavian concentration camp prisoners transferred to neutral Sweden – and therefore to safety – even before the war had ended. The so-called Scandinavian camp at Neuengamme Concentration Camp became the assembly point for the prisoners. The Study Day aims to convey historical knowledge as well as various perspectives on the so-called ‘White Buses’ rescue operation and the way it has been processed in the remembrance cultures of the participating countries.

The situation of Soviet prisoners-of-war at Neuengamme Concentration Camp

Between 1941 to 1945, the German Wehrmacht took a total of 5.7 million Red Army soldiers prisoner, of whom around 3.3 million were murdered – by the Wehrmacht, Gestapo, Sicherheitsdienst [Security Service] (SD) and the SS. The Study Day focuses on the fate of the Soviet prisoners-of-war who were transferred from the Wehrmacht POW camps on Lüneburg Heath to Neuengamme Concentration Camp; some were immediately murdered there; others assigned to forced labour.

Women at the concentration camp – female prisoners and guards

Neuengamme was an all-male camp, but there were also numerous women’s concentration camps among the satellite camps set up by the SS during the second half of the war. How did the female prisoners fare there? What specific conditions were they exposed to that did not affect male prisoners in the same way? On Day 1, the participants attending the Study Day at Neuengamme will get to familiarise themselves with the history of Neuengamme Concentration Camp and its satellite camps and study the biographies of female prisoners. On Day 2, they will travel to the Poppenbüttel memorial site near the Sasel former women’s satellite camp and take a closer look at the female perpetrators and the specifics involved in the persecution of women.

 

Nazi perpetrators

The Study Day uses contemporary sources and surviving documents in its consideration of the perpetrators of Nazi crimes and the motives for, and scope of, such actions as well as their justification strategies. The emphasis is on examples from the history of Neuengamme Concentration Camp, including the administrative and guard personnel at the main camp and the satellite camps, but also the involvement of state institutions and private companies in the crimes committed there. It also looks at the post-1945 prosecution of Nazi perpetrators.

 

‘Anti-social’ and ‘work-shy’: persecution and stigmatisation during the Nazi era – Continuities through to the present day

The Study Day focuses on the criminalisation and Nazi persecution of people stigmatised as ‘anti-social’. Working from various biographies, the participants examine the reasons behind the persecution and the life stories of those affected as well as the position of the so-called ‘anti-social’ elements within the prisoner community at the concentration camps. The Study Day also focuses on the perpetrators and the protagonists involved within the welfare authorities and social institutions, the lack of recognition and compensation for the persecuted after 1945, and the way the marginalisation has persisted to the present day.

 

Antisemitism and Jewish life in Germany – past and present

Participants have the opportunity to study the history and present-day scenario of antisemitism, find out more about the specifics of National Socialist antisemitism, and learn about Jewish life in Germany before, during and after the Nazi era through case studies involving individual biographies. The focus is on the persecution and extermination of the Jewish population during the Nazi era. One main area of emphasis is the individual persecution and fate of – predominantly female – Jewish prisoners at the satellite camps of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp.

 

Antiziganism in past and present

The Study Day deals with antiziganist representations and stereotypes, some of which are centuries old. It provides an insight into the history of the Sinti and Roma and highlights their persecution under the Nazi regime, based on the biographies of a number of inmates held prisoner at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp. It also illustrates the different phases in the deprivation of rights and the persecution through to deportation, the long path towards recognition and compensation post-1945, and the current life situations of these minorities in Germany and other European countries.

 

Colonial and racist thinking and action under Nazi rule

The Study Day examines the ways in which colonial and racist thinking and action were in effect in Germany, right through to the National Socialist era. The emphasis might be on racism and the realities of life for black people and people of colour who were living in Germany or elsewhere in Europe during the Nazi era. Alternatively, the Study Day might emphasise the colonial, antisemitic and anti-Slav or racist aspects of the National Socialist warfare waged in the Soviet Union. In both cases, the fate of people of colour, Soviet and Jewish prisoners deported to concentration camps is explained in depth while raising the question as to how this topic has been addressed within Germany’s remembrance culture.

 

We also offer adult groups various Study Days on the actions of institutions during the Nazi era and other theme-based further education courses and seminars

Please note our additional digital education offers.