Reading and panel discussion: Letters from Oksbøl

Letters from Oksbøl - Reflections on Family History
German Refugees in Denmark 1945 to 1949

In March 1945, Charlotte Neubacher and her two children Marianne (14) and Jürgen (4) had to leave the embattled city of Gdansk. A dramatic displacement across the Baltic Sea to the Oksbøl camp in Denmark followed.

The 44-year-old mother was only able to make contact with her husband after a year of mail blockage. Over 200 of her letters from Oksbøl have survived, reporting on everyday life in the camp, the children and the hope of a reunion, which finally took place in Thuringia in June 1947.

The letters give voice to a generation that no longer exists. In the spring of 1949, the last German refugees left the Danish camp at Oksbøl. 75 years later, we look at the fate of these people.
 

Program

Greeting

Dr Gundula Bavendamm, Director, Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation
Claus Kjeld Jensen, Director, FLUGT, Oksbøl

Greeting

Susanne Hyldelund, Ambassador, Royal Danish Embassy in Germany

Historical introduction

John V. Jensen, Research Associate, FLUGT, Oksbøl

Reading and discussion

Christina Neubacher reads from the Oksbøl letters of her grandmother Charlotte Neubacher

Panel
Christina Neubacher, Leipzig
John V. Jensen, Research Associate, FLUGT, Oksbøl
Dr Andreas Kossert, Research Associate, Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation

Moderation

Dr Nils Köhler, Head of Documentation and Research, Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation

Afterwards, we invite you to a small reception.

Free admission

An event in cooperation with the FLUGT - Refugee Museum of Denmark and the Royal Danish Embassy, Berlin.

Livestream of the event via our YouTube channel Flucht, Vertreibung, Versöhnung - YouTube