Generational Talk

Only few Holocaust survivors are still able to tell their stories. 81 years after the end of World War II, the baton has largely already been passed to the second and third generations. What’s it like to grow up as the descendants of concentration camp survivors? When and how did they find out what happened, and how does it affect their lives today?

We are happy to have two guest speakers to discuss these and more questions in a generational talk format. The German occupation forces persecuted Youp Zwolschen’s grandfather Antoon Bink as a Dutch political prisoner, while Phil Glauben’s father Moniek (later Max) Glauben was persecuted as a Polish Jew. Both were eventually deported to Flossenbürg concentration camp, and liberated on death marches. In the talk, Youp and Phil will sketch out the very different stories of their grandfather and father’s survival and start into a new life after the war.

They will detail the long, sometimes painful, but ultimately rewarding path to engaging with that family history and becoming second and third generation speakers. And together with moderator Dennis Forster (Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial), they’ll invite you to discuss: How do National Socialism and the Holocaust still reverberate three generations later? How can we pass on history once the survivors and eyewitnesses are gone? And: What about us here in Germany? How do and should we all reckon with our family histories?