Heinrich Böll wrote in 1948: “We were born to remember. Our task is not to forget, but to remember.” In 2017 Jörg Wollenberg published his opus summum “War of Memories: From Ahrensbök via New York to Auschwitz and back”.
Prof. Dr. Jörg Wollenberg has worked as a historian and adult educator at the University of Bremen and as head of adult education centers in Bielefeld and Nuremberg. He is still highly active as a publicist and editor of magazines and edition projects. "War of Memories", published by Sujet-Verlag, includes Wollenberg's historical-political contributions from the last 50 years.
The starting point of Wollenberg's "search for traces" is his birthplace Ahrensbök in the district of Ostholstein. There he witnessed the death march from Auschwitz in 1945 and witnessed the fate of forced labourers, refugees and displaced persons on site. The founding of the memorial there is part of Wollenberg's tireless attempt to shed light on the ideas and interests that were effective long before 1933 that led to the seizure of power by the state-criminal policies of the "Third Reich" - and what lasting burdens this has caused to this day.
The numerous contacts with survivors of the Holocaust, whom he was able to visit and interview in both parts of Germany, but also in the USA, England, France, Spain, Greece, the CSSR and Poland, were formative for Wollenberg's career. Many of these encounters and experiences have flowed into “War of Memories”.
Admission to this Bremen book premiere is free. The organizers are the Bremen City Library and the Bremer Literaturkontor in cooperation with the Sujet-Verlag and the Heinrich Böll Foundation Bremen.
You can find an article in the Lübecker Nachrichten about “War of Memories”. HERE.
