18:00 - 19:30
Gedenkstätte Breitenau, Brückenstraße 12, 34302 Guxhagen
still there!
An exhibition about children from forbidden relationships between Germans, prisoners of war and forced laborers:within
Forbidden handling: Women in the area of tension between Nazi persecution and recognition
Lecture with Tatjana Varnhold with an introduction through the archive of the German women's movement
Thursday, 10.09.2026, 18.00 Clock
Location: Gedenkstätte Breitenau
Conversations, Assistance services, emotional closeness or sexual relationships: Contacts between German women and foreign forced laborers were persecuted as “forbidden contact” under National Socialism. The accusation alone could have serious consequences for the women affected: public humiliation, Arrest or being sent to prison, a labor training camp or a concentration camp.
But the stigma of “forbidden contact” disappeared 1945 not easy. For many women, the end of National Socialism meant no rehabilitation and no obvious recognition of their suffering. The stigmatization often continued in their efforts for compensation and recognition in the two post-war German states.
The lecture presents the results of a master's thesis, examines women's stories of persecution, who were imprisoned in the Breitenau labor education camp due to so-called “forbidden contact”.. Show selected case studies, how the experiences of the women affected were sexualized in the post-war period, were morally devalued or depoliticized and like National Socialist gender images and moral concepts 1945 fortwirkten.
Tatjana Varnhold, M.A. is a research volunteer at the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial. She completed a master's degree in “History and Politics”. 20. Century” at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena.
In cooperation with the archive of the German women's movement and vhs Region Kassel.
Funded by the Hessian State Center for Civic Education
The exhibition can be seen during the regular opening hours of the Breitenau Memorial:
Tuesday – Friday: 9 – 16 Clock
Sunday: 13 – 17 Clock
© Photo: Sandbostel Memorial