Wreath-laying on Sunday, January 27 in memory of victims of National Socialism. The picture shows in the center (from left to right) plant manager Dr. Stefan Loth, Dieter Landenberger, Head of Volkswagen Heritage, and Ulf Günther and Gerardo Scarpino, members of the Works Council.
- Wreath-laying at memorial stone for forced labor victims at the Volkswagen plant Wolfsburg
- Film showing at Group Archive Forum “Bei uns nichts Neues”
- Author and director hold discussions with guests at the remembrance event
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Volkswagen remembered the victims of National Socialism at its Wolfsburg plant.
On behalf of the management, the workforce and employee representative bodies, plant manager Dr. Stefan Loth, members of the Works Council and a delegation of the IG Metall shop stewards committee at Wolfsburg laid wreaths at the memorial stone for the victims of forced labor. Since 1991, the memorial stone on Südstraße at entrance 2 has commemorated the victims of forced labor at the Volkswagen plant between 1940 and 1945.
Following the ceremony, the film “Bei uns nichts Neues” by Shimon Lev and Astrid Vehstedt was shown in the Group Archive Forum. The Israeli artist and the German producer of the film then took part in a discussion with more than 100 visitors to the remembrance event.
The film “Bei uns nichts Neues”
In the 2014 film, present-day residents of the house at Thomasiusstraße 11 in Berlin read letters and postcards sent by the Jewish family Löw from the same house in Berlin to their son Willy between 1940 and 1943. Willy Löw, the father of author Shimon Lev, was the only member of the family to survive the Holocaust, in Great Britain. His parents had sent the 16-year-old there with a kindertransport. The increasingly perilous situation of the Jewish family is clear from the letters and postcards. Willy’s parents and his sister Liane, who wrote most of the letters, were deported in May 1943 to Auschwitz, where they were murdered. The letters tell a disturbing, harrowing story. Just like the film and the “stumbling blocks” in front of the house, they keep the memory of the Löw family alive.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
January 27, 2019 is the 74th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp by the Soviet Red Army. Since 2005, this date has been observed throughout the world as Holocaust Remembrance Day on the basis of a UN resolution.
Note:
Further photos are available at www.volkswagen-newsroom.com for downloading. In the case of photos concerning the film “Bei uns nichts Neues“, please indicate “Copyright Shimon Lev”.