"Jews, Germans and oil are our best export goods" - Ware Mensch? How Romanian Germans were ransomed for foreign currency

Location

entrance free, with registration

With a film, lecture and panel discussion, the event sheds light on a chapter of German-Romanian post-war history that has hardly been discussed in public to date: the ransom of hundreds of thousands of Romanian Germans by the Federal Republic of Germany from the Ceaușescu dictatorship - in exchange for hard Deutschmarks, in secret, without those affected having a say.

The focus is on the personal experiences of ransomed Romanian Germans, complemented by a historical context. The event examines the possibilities and limits of co-operation with dictatorships for humanitarian purposes and compares the ransoming of political prisoners from GDR prisons with the ransoming of Romanian Germans. Can a democratically constituted state buy people out and keep dictatorships alive with hard currency? The question of the limits of co-operation between democracies and dictatorships arises again today and is very topical. The discussion with contemporary witnesses and experts is intended to provide orientation in the Capital of Culture year using a concrete historical example and to look at Chemnitz city history in a European context.

Contemporary witnesses and Freigekaufte Brigitte Depner, Dr Friedrich Maiterth and Dr Bernd Fabritius will talk about their experiences. Cornel Hüsch, son of the free purchase negotiator Heinz-Günther Hüsch, will provide insights into the negotiations. Dr Fabritius, Federal Government Commissioner for Ethnic German Resettlers and National Minorities, and Alexander Dierks, President of the Saxon State Parliament, will open the evening with words of welcome.

Admission is free, please register by e-mail to veranstaltungen@gedenkort-kassberg.de.