Initiative NS forced labour
Around 26 million people had to perform forced labour during the Nazi era. Their ruthless exploitation guaranteed the continued existence of the armaments industry and the supply of the German population during the Second World War. Forced labour was used in all areas of the German economy: Mining and the armaments industry as well as municipal businesses, agriculture and forestry or small bakeries and private households. The forced labourers were subjected to a radically racist system that shaped their everyday lives and living conditions. The town of Schwenningen, which was badly affected by the global economic crisis and heavily in debt, benefited from the German economy's switch to war production: the Schwenningen watch industry produced detonators for bombs, among other things. Forced labourers played a key role in their manufacture. Their exploitation led to an economic boom in Schwenningen, from which local industry continued to benefit after the war.
Since 2023, there has been an initiative in Schwenningen to come to terms with Nazi forced labour. It was founded as an appeal for donations for the former forced labourer Volodomyr Shcherbina (deceased 2023), who performed forced labour in Schwenningen as a 17-year-old Ukrainian and lived in the embattled city of Mikolayiv in Ukraine. The initiative is planning various public events and excursions on the topic for 2024 and 2025. A historical exhibition in the Clock Industry Museum and a virtual platform on forced labour in Schwenningen are being prepared for 2026.
Preview
There are currently no public events organised by the initiative. We will keep you up to date.
Previous events:
April 11 - April 13, 2025
Conference “Nazi forced labor in one's own neighborhood - new perspectives on an international local history”
Haus auf der Alb, Bad Urach | Lead: Cornelius Kückelhaus, Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Baden-Württemberg, Fachbereich Gedenkstättenarbeit | Florian Kemmelmeier and Lisa Schank, project “Heimatgeschichte International - Auf den Spuren von NS-Zwangsarbeit in Villingen-Schwenningen”
The comprehensive system of Nazi forced labor shaped everyday life during the war in every town and almost every village. Today, however, this is rarely part of the public consciousness. This local history and its international dimensions are still unknown in many places in Baden-Württemberg outside the memorial landscape. The regional networking conference invited participants to discuss the current possibilities of local historical research and education on Nazi forced labor.
Program for the conference
21 March 2025
Exhibition of remembrance at the Gymnasium am Deutenberg
What does it feel like when your home is suddenly no longer a safe place? When you are forced to work, far away from family and friends? These questions were at the heart of the ‘Forgotten Fates’ show put on by the middle school theatre group at Gymnasium am Deutenberg. The play, written by pupil Karina Rassejkin, sheds light on the fate of Nazi forced labourers in Schwenningen and at the same time poses the question of how we deal with this history today.
More information and the follow-up report on the project: https://www.gad-vs.de/aktuelles/neues-vom-gad/details/eine-werkschau-die-geschichte-spuerbar-macht
27 January 2025
Project kick-off ‘Local History International - On the trail of Nazi forced labour in Villingen-Schwenningen’
On the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp and a day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism, the Office for Culture, the Clock Industry Museum and the Initiative on Nazi Forced Labour in Schwenningen will present their new project ‘Local History International - On the Traces of Nazi Forced Labour in Villingen-Schwenningen’. The aim of the two-year educational and research project is to involve young people in researching Nazi forced labour in Schwenningen. Cooperation partners are the Deutenberg and Romäusring grammar schools, ver.Di Südbaden and the memorial work department of the Baden-Württemberg State Centre for Political Education (Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Baden-Württemberg). The results of the project will be presented in an exhibition at the Clock Industry Museum and on a website in 2026. The project is part of the nationwide funding programme ‘JUGEND erinnert vor Ort’ (Youth Remembers on Site), which comprises 12 projects by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future. It is funded by the Foundation and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media with a total of €200,000.
Detlev Bührer (Mayor of Villingen-Schwenningen), Andreas Dobmeier (Head of the Office for Culture), Dr Martina Baleva (Head of Schwenningen Museums), Lisa Schank and Florian Kemmelmeier (Research Project Team ‘Local History International’) spoke at the project launch. The co-operation partners also introduced themselves: Cornelius Kückelhaus (Baden-Württemberg State Centre for Political Education), Larissa Zürn (Gymnasium am Deutenberg), Jens Weinmann (Gymnasium am Romäusring).
Invitation to the project launch (in German)
2024
12 October 2024: ‘Site visit - on the trail of Nazi forced labour in Schwenningen by bus’
On this short excursion through Schwenningen, the initiative presented places where traces of forced labourers can be traced today. 3,374 people could be found in archives at the moment. They worked in one of the many companies, were housed in camps, were treated in hospital or buried in the forest cemetery. The tour linked initial research results with the urban topography of Schwenningen. Stops: (1) Clock Industry Museum / Former Württemberg Clock Factory - (2) Old Brickworks in Villinger Straße - (3) Former Eastern Labour Camp on the Dickenhardt - (4) Old Hospital near the Bürgerheim - (5) Forest Cemetery.
The initiators Dr Annemarie Conradt-Mach, Florian Kemmelmeier, Dr Heinrich Maulhardt, Lisa Schank, Lisa Schmied, Ute Schulze and Markus Teubert each gave brief insights into the current state of knowledge. With over 30 participants, the response was good. City tours to other sites of Nazi forced labour in Schwenningen that have not yet been visited are planned for 2025.
July 2024: Workshop with pupils from the Deutenberg grammar school
11 May 2024: Nazi forced labour in Schwenningen. Presentation and status of a project
Presentation as part of the Schwenningen local history association's history week. With Dr Valery Cherniavskij and Florian Kemmelmeier
23 March 2024: Joint trip to the Hotel Silber memorial site in Stuttgart
Visit to the exhibition with a guided tour by the managing director of the Initiative Lern- und Gedenkort Hotel Silber e.V. Followed by a discussion with representatives of the initiative's forced labour working group, participants in the citizen research project "The Third Reich and Us" in St. Georgen, and Cornelius Kückelhaus from the memorial work department of the Baden-Württemberg State Centre for Political Education.
Exkursionsbericht Hotel Silber (in German)
27 January 2024: "The whole of Europe was here" (kick-off event)
On the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of National Socialism, historians provided insights into the topic. Dr Annemarie Conradt-Mach, Lisa Schank and Dr Valery Cherniavskij gave talks and showed current references to remembrance work. The aim of the evening was to publicise the initiative and invite people to join in.
Do you have documents, memories or family biographical stories about Nazi forced labour? Or would you like to take an active interest in the topic in Schwenningen? Please get in touch.
Lisa Schank is your contact person: lisa.schank@~@villingen-schwenningen.de