Research Project: “Researching – Preserving – Sharing. Establishing a Digital Community of Transnational Memory and Records on Nazi Forced Labour in Lower Austria”

During the Second World War, foreign civilians and prisoners of war were forced to work in almost all towns and villages of the German Reich. Although Nazi forced labour has been studied for many years, significant gaps in research remain – for example regarding its regional manifestations, the social relations between forced labourers and the local population, and individual life stories. This also applies to Lower Austria, where the history of Nazi forced labour, despite important foundational studies, has not yet been sufficiently researched or documented.

Both descendants of former forced labourers and residents of the places where forced labour took place still preserve private documents, photographs, and other personal artefacts. These materials offer valuable insights into the living and working conditions of forced labourers during the Nazi period. In many families, memories and narratives continue to be passed down through generations.

The digital platform “Connecting Memories” aims to collect, preserve, and make accessible digitised private materials related to Nazi forced labour. It seeks to promote exchange among descendants, local initiatives, scholars, and experts, and to support collaborative collecting and research.

In cooperation with interested Citizen Scientists and Descendant Scientists, the project tests digital tools for archiving, knowledge creation, and research. In doing so, it explores new forms of inquiry, collaboration, data networking, and communication. Case studies include Hungarian-Jewish forced labour in Lower Austria and the prisoner-of-war camp Stalag XVII B in Krems-Gneixendorf.

The participation of descendants and other interested individuals in research on forced labour requires a particularly reflexive approach, as it engages with a history of violence and diverse communities of remembrance. The project therefore also investigates how different forms of participation and engagement in dealing with this complex past can foster dialogical processes of remembrance and research.

Duration: 2025-2027
Funding body: GFF Lower Austria (Citizen Science) Project-ID: FTI24-C-020
Lead partner:
University for Continuing Education Krems, Department of Art & Cultural Studies
Directors: Edith Blaschitz, Eva Mayr
Project staff: Carl Philipp Hoffmann, Karin Böhm
Research partners:
Institute for Jewish History in Austria (Director: Martha Keil): Merle Bieber
Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (Director: Éva Kovacs): Kinga Frojimovics
Cooperating archives:
Krems City Archives
St. Pölten City Archives

Scientific Advisory Board:
Thomas Cauvin (Centre for Digital History at the University of Luxembourg)
Stefan Eminger (Lower Austrian Provincial Archives)
Dirk Luyten (Study- and Documentation Centre for War and Contemporary Society of the Belgian State Archives)
Barbara Stelzl-Marx (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War)
Olga Ungar (The World Holocaust Remembrance Center Yad Vashem).

Project Team

University for Continuing Education Krems