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Saturday, 16 July 2022, 2.00 p.m.: Opening of the exhibition "Fürstenberger BRUCHSTÜCKE '45".

followed by: tour and "storytelling café" in the parish garden (Ev.-Luth. Kirchengemeinde, Pfarrstraße 1)

Location: Market Square, 16798 Fürstenberg an der Havel

Public guided tours: 28 July and 11 August, both at 5 p.m.; 25 September at 2 p.m. (meeting point: market square)

On a light pole in the town centre of Fürstenberg an der Havel, above a bowl of flowering geraniums, hangs a plaque with a drawing: one hand holds a stamp-like sheet with the inscription "bread". On the other side of the board, under the heading "Fürstenberger:innen erzählen von 1945" ("Fürstenbergers tell about 1945"), it says: "We only got cards when we worked. Bread cards ...". At the base of the light pole is a film with a detailed quote from the then 18-year-old I. L.: "Well, first we were in the concentration camp. So how it all came about, lifting the dead people out of there. Everything was terrible. Yes, we only got cards when we worked. Bread cards, as they say." There are more quotes and a QR code on the slide.

The board is part of the installation "Fürstenberger BRUCHSTÜCKE '45", which will be opened on Saturday, 16 July 2022, at 2 p.m. on Marktpatz in Fürstenberg an der Havel. The Ravensbrück Memorial presents excerpts from interviews that curator Kirsten Poggendorff conducted with people from Fürstenberg about the events of 1945 on a total of ten light pole panels in the city space. The quotes are illustrated by drawings by Atelier Lomas from Klein-Mutz. Further background information and listening stations can be accessed via a QR code. Another information board with quotes from survivors of Ravensbrück concentration camp, designed by students of the Centre for Research on Anti-Semitism at the Technical University of Berlin, is located in the city park. The installation and the information board complement the exhibition "BRUCHSTÜCKE '45" about the liberation of Ravensbrück concentration camp and the end of the war in the region, which is currently on display at the Ravensbrück Memorial. Guided tours and a "story shop" are offered in the accompanying programme of events.

The deputy director of the Ravensbrück Memorial, Sabine Arend, said today: "The exhibition BRUCHSTÜCKE '45 shows how closely the history of the Ravensbrück concentration camp is interwoven with the town of Fürstenberg and the region. With the installation on the squares and in the streets of Fürstenberg and accompanying events, we want to invite people to understand the concentration camp as part of the town's history. At the same time, the memorial is moving into the centre of the city with these offerings in order to enter into conversation with the people of Fürstenberg and build bridges."

Curator Kirsten Poggendorff explained: "My interview partners at the time were children and young people aged 6 to 18. I knew from some of them that they would certainly be interested in participating in the exhibition. Finding others was not always easy. In the end, the suggestions of the cemetery administrator at the time, recommendations from those already interviewed, tips from acquaintances and certainly the fact that I myself was born in Fürstenberg helped. In the end, 15 Fürstenbergers took part in the interview project. I would like to thank them for interesting conversations, but above all for their trust and openness."

As part of the opening of the installation, there will be a tour with curator Kirsten Poggendorff. Afterwards, the Ravensbrück Memorial invites you to a "storytelling café" in the parish garden of the Ev.-Luth. parish, where there will be an opportunity for exchange with the Fürstenbergers who have told of their memories of the year 1945 for the installation.

From 16 to 21 August, a "story shop" offers the opportunity for encounters and conversations. A temporary 1940s-style living room will be set up in the "Old Department Store" at Brandenburger Straße 17, where curator Kirsten Poggendorff invites locals and strolling tourists to tell their stories of 1945. These stories are recorded with the help of a typewriter. The visitors receive a carbon copy of their story, the original is displayed in the shop window and later archived.

The exhibition "BRUCHSTÜCKE '45 - Von NS-Gewalt, Befreiungen und Umbrüchen in Brandenburg" can be seen until 30 September at the Ravensbrück Memorial.

Public guided tours: 24 July, 7 and 28 August, each at 2 p.m.; 18 August and 8 September, each at 5 p.m. (meeting point: visitor centre of the memorial).

Photos: © Ravensbrück Memorial (MGR)