EVENTS EBENSEE

FINAL REPORTS

In the meantime, the follow-up reports and event descriptions for the three meetings in Ebensee, Wangen and Prato have been compiled and published.

You can download them here in PDF format

Follow-up Report

Ebensee	Wangen	Prato

Event desciption

Ebensee	Wangen	Prato

One of the most important projects and activities within the framework of the Prato-Ebensee town twinning is the "Journey of Remembrance" (viaggio della memoria), a study trip to former Nazi concentration camps, which has been supported by ANED Prato for many decades.

The trip, organized every May (on the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps Mauthausen and its subcamps), has already taken thousands of young people to the camps of Mauthausen, Ebensee, Gusen and Hartheim, where hundreds of Italian deportees, including many from Prato, lost their lives in the last two years of the Second World War (1944/45).

Initiatives of this kind are an opportunity to promote commitment to remembering and against forgetting, and above all to bring young people closer to the topic through first-hand experiences in the atmosphere of the former camps.

By engaging the past, young people are also given a tool for critical reading and analysis of the present: knowing the past is essential to avoid making the same serious mistakes in the future.

The participants of the CERV project are involved in such activities of the remembrance journey; they will also deepen the topics in special workshops.

In September there will also be the opportunity to visit the Deportation Museum in Prato.

The Story "Non è una gita" (This is not an excursion)

An audio diary dedicated to the "Journey of Memory" (viaggio della memoria), which lasted from Thursday 4 May to Monday 8 May. Three buses full of girls and boys from middle and high schools from Prato and many other places in the region returned, after the pause caused by the pandemic, to the places of memory linked to the history of the deportations that started from Prato, especially after the strikes of March 1944.

The report of this trip and the participants' comments became a Pratosfera podcast entitled "This is not a trip" (in Italian).
The complete Pratosfera-Podcast you can find here>>>

Some participants of our project have given interviews
(in Italian) which you can listen to here 

THE PROGRAM IN EBENSEE IN DETAIL

Thursday, 4th May 2023

Arrival

16.00
Visit of the Zeitgeschichtemuseum Ebensee

Our trip to Ebensee started early. At six thirty we were ready to go and at seven o'clock so was the bus. Our journey not only started early, but was also very long. After twelve hours we were finally in Ebensee. Due to the delays, we were unfortunately unable to visit the Zeitgeschichtemuseum Ebensee, which deals with the period between 1918 and 1955.

19:00
Welcome evening with dinner

When we arrived in Ebensee, we were warmly welcomed with dinner despite our delay. We were not able to get to know the participants from Wangen and Ebensee until the next day, as they had to return to their accommodation before we arrived.

More detailed coverage of the first day is available for download (pdf format) here.

Friday, 5th May 2023

8:00
Visit of the Hartheim castle memorial

The first item on the programme of the first day was the visit to Hartheim Castle. Although the pictures convey that this is a beautiful place, it carries with it a cruel past. During National Socialism, the castle was used by the Nazis as a euthanasia institution. Between 1940 and 1944, at least 30,000 people were murdered there. In the beginning, these were mostly people with disabilities or mentally ill people, but later, concentration camp prisoners who were unable to work also became victims of the killing operation.Today, Hartheim Castle serves as a place of learning and remembrance. We took part in a guided tour through the premises and dealt intensively with the history of this place.

More detailed coverage of the visit of the Hartheim castle is available for download (pdf format) here.

14:00
Workshop at Ebensee Town Hall

In the afternoon we took part in a workshop. This dealt with the topic of how the culture of remembrance of National Socialism and its 'crimes' can be maintained in the future, when no more contemporary witnesses are alive. We also dealt with questions of how we should confront injustice and discrimination today and what role language plays in dealing with it.

More detailed coverage of the Workshops is available for download (pdf format) here.

18:00
"Stationen des Bedenkens"/ Stations of Remembrance

The Stations of Remembrance event took place in the evening. When Hitler decided in 1943 to build a tunnel in Ebensee in order to establish a location for the armament industry that was protected from air raids, the Ebensee concentration camp was established. This served as a labour camp whose inmates had to work day and night on the construction of the tunnel. In total, there were at least 18,000 prisoners in the concentration camp, of whom at least 8,000 were murdered through labour. At the memorial stations, we remembered the victims and walked along the path that the prisoners had to take every day from the concentration camp to the tunnel. We walked past the only remnant of the concentration camp, the entrance gate. 

More detailed coverage of the Stations of Remembrance is available for download (pdf format) here.

Saturday, 6th May 2023

9:.00
Tour of the "tunnel"

On the morning of the second day we visited the tunnel, the construction of which cost at least 8,000 victims and had to be carried out by prisoners of the Ebensee concentration camp. Shortly before the liberation of the concentration camp, the Nazis' plan was to transport all prisoners into the tunnel and then blow it up. This plan was successfully resisted, which meant that there were still survivors on the day of liberation, the sixth of May 1945.

More detailed coverage of the visit of the tunnel is available for download (pdf format) here.

10:30
commemoration of the liberation of the concentration camp

On the day of the liberation of the Ebensee concentration camp, the sixth of May 1945, an annual commemoration takes place. As prisoners from all over Europe were deported to Ebensee, delegations from Hungary, Italy, the Czech Republic, France, Serbia and Germany were also represented at the ceremony. Relatives of prisoners held in Ebensee were also present and gave speeches about their memories.

More detailed coverage of the commemoration is available for download (pdf format) here.

15:00
Boat tour on Lake Traunsee

In the afternoon we took a boat trip on the Traunsee and were able to see some of the beautiful surroundings around Ebensee. The sun even shone briefly despite the forecast rain.

More detailed coverage of the boat trip is available for download (pdf format) here.

19:00
Friendship evening to celebrate the twinning with a joint dinner
On the occasion of the friendship evening, the students presented the results of the workshops  based on the images of Strasbourg artist Edouard Steegman - based on Victor Klempner's book 'Die geraubte Sprache' - with the themes of manipulation, linguistic corruption, lack of freedom under National Socialism.

Here is the film of their performances; you can watch the film here>>>
More detailed coverage of the friendship evening is available for download (pdf format) here.

Sunday, 7th May 2023

9:00 
visit to the Mauthausen concentration camp

On the third day we visited the Mauthausen concentration camp memorial. Between 1938 and 1945, at least 90,000 people from all over Europe were murdered here and in the subcamps of Mauthausen. Prisoners from Mauthausen were also transferred to Ebensee to work on the tunnel.

More detailed coverage of the trip to Mauthausen is available for download (pdf format) here.

Monday, 8th May 2023

Departure