In 1944, the National Socialists built a factory two kilometres inside the mine of the town of Schwaz. Foreign forced labourers manufactured parts of the Me 262 jet fighter in this Messerschmitthalle.
The French military government imprisoned former Nazis in one of the forced labour camps in Schwaz. They named the camp “Oradour”, after the place where the SS had murdered hundreds.
In 1948, displaced persons and refugees populated the camp, and from autumn 1954, marginalised, homeless and poverty-stricken people. Oradour” became St. Margarethen, the refugee camp became the MĂ€rzensiedlung: an eyesore at the gates of the cultural city of Schwaz. In 1988, the municipality removed it – 44 years after the camp was first occupied during the Nazi era.
The camps no longer stand, the memories fade, the stories falter, what remains are rumours. Horst Schreiber’s book strengthens memory and encourages people to talk. Not only about the Nazi era.
Programme:
Roland Sila, welcome address
Horst Schreiber, presentation of the book
Musical accompaniment:
KATHMAN DUO, Folk from North to East:
Stefan Manges: accordion, voice / Katharina SchwÀrzer, violin, voice.
In the framework of “Memories of Memories“.