Contemporary Witnesses
Contemporary witnesses on the podium, 6 June 2018
The Marienfelde Refugee Center Museum works closely with contemporary witnesses. Their accounts of everyday life in the reception center or in the Marienfelde temporary housing, their personal experience of going through the reception procedure, as well as the views of residents and employees serve as important sources. The history of the reception center and temporary refugee housing also reflects the development of an important chapter in the history of migration after 1945. The experiences of people in flight, during their emigration, as ethnic German repatriates or while going through the asylum procedure are important for understanding historical parallels and differences.
If you arrived at the Marienfelde reception center or the reception center of the state of Berlin, please contact us. We are interested in your memories!
Escape Actions
The online exhibition "Escape Actions" uses numerous private documents to tell the story of Renate Werwigk-Schneider, a contemporary witness who tried to flee the GDR several times.
To the online exhibition
The Berlin Wall Foundation's work with contemporary witnesses
We see eyewitness work as a way of making everyday life with the Berlin Wall and the German-German division visible and comprehensible and see ourselves as part of oral history. It is also about giving victims and their relatives a voice.