Finissage of the exhibition "And they were our neighbours..." with musical reading

On Monday, 27 January, the finissage of the exhibition "They were our neighbours..." with the artist, the curator and the participating cooperation partners will take place in the appendix of the LernWerk (Industriestr. 1) from 6 pm. Klaudia Kroesen and Claus Cordes will read from the book "I survived Rumbula" from 7 p.m. Hanne Feldhaus (recorder) will provide the accompanying musical programme.

The reading marks the end of the programme accompanying the exhibition in the extension of the LernWerk, the Appendix. Since 10 December, many members of the public, school groups and people from outside the region have already seen, heard and felt the exhibition, which extends over two floors.

The reading takes a closer look at one aspect of the Third Reich: The crimes committed by the Germans in Eastern Europe, which began with massacres in the very first days of their campaign of conquest and soon turned into systematic mass shootings. They only gradually became known and documented in post-war Germany.

Frida Michelson's authentic account of the invasion of Latvia by German troops, the beginning of the marginalisation, persecution, forced labour, ghettoisation and subsequent extermination in the forest of Rumbula, which she escaped by chance, is a unique testimony. The reading will make reference to Jews from Bocholt. Afterwards, there will be time for discussion and reflection on the exhibition over drinks, and the Bocholt bookshop Seitenblick will be organising a book table.

Due to limited seating capacity, please register for the finissage and reading. Admission to the finissage is from 5.45 pm. Admission to the reading is from 6.45 pm.

Promotion of the exhibition

The exhibition "And they were our neighbours..." is funded by the "Heimat-Fonds" of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Municipal Affairs, Building and Digitisation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and by Volksbank Bocholt eG.

The city of Bocholt is realising the exhibition in cooperation with the Bocholter Kunst- und Kulturgemeinschaft e.V., the Stadttheater Bocholt e.V., the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge and EUROPE DIRECT Bocholt. Further information, including registration, is available from the VHS Bocholt office, Industriestr. 1, the Rhede and Isselburg branches or via www.vhs-bocholt.de.