Societies under German Occupation - Reading in Hamburg

“There are not enough potatoes, there is just hunger” wrote an unknown Czech author with trembling hands on the margin of a newspaper clipping. Wherever the German Wehrmacht moved in, shortage and hunger soon began to dominate the lives of the members of the occupied societies. Where there were not sufficient rations, as was the case in nearly all the occupied countries, black markets and bartering soon emerged. Limited foodstuff, malnutrition, discrimination through the distribution of food rations, and starvation, but also alternative survival strategies came to shape everyday life under German occupation, not only in Eastern, but also in Western Europe.

Annette Daugardt, Tatjana Tönsmeyer and Irina Sherbakova

Annette Daugardt, Tatjana Tönsmeyer and Irina Sherbakova

 

In cooperation with the „Landeszentrale für Politische Bildung Hamburg“ (‘Hamburg Centre for Political Education’) the editorial project organized a public reading of original sources, which had been translated into German, and which took place in Hamburg on April 7th 2016. The Berlin actress, Anette Daugardt, read those original documents dating back to the years 1939-1945, giving an impressive insight into everyday life and survival strategies under German occupation. The source reading was followed by a round table discussion, where Tatjana Tönsmeyer (University of Wuppertal), Irina Sherbakova (MEMORIAL Moscow), and Stefan Martens (German Historical Institute Paris) discussed the topic with Sabine Bamberger-Stemmann (Landeszentrale für Politische Bildung Hamburg) and the interestedaudience.

 

Link to the flyer for the event on the website of the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Hamburg