The virtual exhibition “Through the lens” narrates World War II in Luxembourg and the Greater Region through oral history interviews. It has been curated by the students of the Master in Contemporary European History in the context of a research seminar on oral history and under the supervision of Prof. Andreas Fickers and German filmmaker Loretta Walz.
There is no such thing as the Luxembourgish experience of World War II. On the contrary, every single witness has their own story and this project aims to illustrate the richness of these records.
On the basis of 102 life-story interviews with contemporary witnesses to World War II in Luxembourg and the Greater Region which were conducted by Loretta Walz on behalf of the University of Luxembourg in the context of the research project Partizip 2, the project presents four 10-minute long audio-visual narratives adopting four different approaches.
- D’Schüler aus dem Iechternacher Lycée. Vum Generalstreik zur Ëmerzéiung (31.08.1942 – 12.12.1942) explores how three young students of the Lycée classique d’Echternach participated in the general strike against the Nazi-regime in 1942 and were sent to the re-education camp of Stahleck in Germany.
- Stunde Null in Luxemburg? Zwischen Zusammenbruch und Wiederaufbruchsstimmung focusses on how the witnesses experienced the immediate after-war period, the ‘Stunde Null’.
- The Myth of Resistance on a national level in Luxembourg adopts a critical view on the commonly accepted assumption that all of the Luxembourgish population resisted the Nazi regime.
- Die Normalität des Anormalen. Darstellungen des Kriegsgefangenenlagers Nr. 188 bei Tambow analyses the moments of normality in a deeply abnormal environment, namely the prisoner of war camp at Tambow.
