Niederbronn had to be liberated twice during the fierce fighting for Alsace at the end of the Second World War. It was only on 17 March that US Army troops finally drove out the German occupiers. A guided tour of the war cemetery has been developed especially for primary school children on this topic.
What do the end of the war and the liberation mean to this day and how are they anchored in the culture of remembrance? Young people at the JBS Niederbronn deal with these questions through the educational programmes. A round table discussion in March, which looked at the post-war period in Alsace and Moselle, showed that these questions are still relevant today. The discussion focussed on the former Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp, the history of the ‘Malgré-Nous’ (French for ‘in spite of’) forced labourers, and the role of the Resistance in Alsace.
At the same time, a social media series has been created that presents the life stories of war dead buried in the neighbouring war cemeteries in Niederbronn-les-Bains, Kamminke (Germany) and Ysselsteyn (Netherlands). The first part of the series introduces unknown soldiers whose life stories are known but whose final resting place is still unknown, for example Hermann Picht.
The educational work of the German War Graves Commission at war cemeteries begins with individual biographies. Insights into the lives of those who died in war help to foster empathy and create individual approaches to history. The focus is on dealing with the consequences of war and violence to this day.
