BGHS doctoral researcher Kerstin Schulte at the VHS Bielefeld. Bild: Thomas Abel

On 19 December 2017, in the last public lecture of the series Linie 4, organized by the BGHS in cooperation with the Volkshochschule Bielefeld, the historian Kerstin Schulte talked in a fully occupied hall about Camp stories from the Senne: Nazis behind barbed wire. The doctoral researcher talked about the two allied camps Staumühle and Stukenbrock where civil functionaries of the national socialis regime were detained waiting for either their trial or their release.

In her talk, Kerstin Schulte gave a detailed insight into the camp life. She managed that by not only showing allied instructional videos concerning the arrest, but also discussed the perception of the camps by the imprisoned people themselves. To do this, she talked in detail about the artistic processing of the experiences of internment in the form of, for example, autobiographies and caricatures.

The audience for the lecture “Nazis behind barbed wire” Bild: Thomas Abel

The lively discussion afterwards involved topics ranging from the supply situation of the internees to women in the camps.

From camp experience to politics of history in the early Federal Republic

In her doctoral theses, the historian compares internment camps in the British and the U.S.-american occupation zone. Especially the internees themselves and their experiences are the focus of her interest. Schulte’s hypotheses is that these experiences had a formative influence on the narratives which later would play a leading role in the politics of history in the early Federal Republic.

With Who Cares? Linie 4 continues in 2018

On 16 January, Cleovi Mosuela will continue the public lecture series with her talk titled Who Cares? Filipino Nurses in Germany. The talk will be held in English.

For further information to the open lecture series and the programme please see:
uni.aktuell (in German)
Interview with Theresa Hornischer at campus radio station Hertz 87.9(in German)
Interview with Marcus Carrier at campus radio station Hertz 87.9 (in German)
#Campusminute with Theresa Hornischer (in German)
www.uni-bielefeld.de/bghs/Public_Science/Linie_4/
www.vhs-bielefeld.de