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Rachel Salamander returns: Remembering the Föhrenwald DP camp
Dr. Rachel Salamander, born in the Deggendorf DP camp, returns to the 80th anniversary of the Föhrenwald camp and shares her moving story.
Rachel Salamander returns: Remembering the Föhrenwald DP camp
Dr. Rachel Salamander returns to her childhood
On October 19, Waldram celebrates the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Displaced Persons Camp (DP Camp) Föhrenwald, a significant event attended by Dr. Rachel Salamander, 76 years old and a prominent voice in German literature, will return. Salamander, who grew up in the camp in question, not only shaped her life in Germany, but also played a key role in shaping the German cultural landscape. How Mercury According to reports, Salamander was born in 1949 in a transit camp in Deggendorf. Her family came from Eastern European Jewry and survived the Holocaust.
Salamander thinks back with a lot of heart to her time in the camp, where she experienced the security of the surviving families and their support. Nevertheless, the adults' stories about murdered relatives were often an emotional burden for the children. This ambivalent feeling still shapes her memories today. In 1957, after the camp closed, she remained in Germany while many other Jews were unable to move on, studying German - a move that provoked mixed reactions in her community.
Life after the camp
After the camp closed, Salamander's family moved to Munich. While her childhood world in the Föhrenwald was characterized by affection, life in the new environment quickly changed: anti-Semitic hostility and the need to learn German were challenges that she had to face. Nevertheless, she decided to stay in Germany and find her place in society. After leaving the camp, she made these experiences the theme of her future career. Loud hdbg Salamander was vehemently committed to the visibility of DP history.
In the decades that followed, she not only founded seven bookstores for Jewish literature, but also actively contributed to reintegrating into the German literary canon the works of authors who were expelled or murdered by the National Socialists. Salamander's commitment is not only a sign of her personal journey, but also of her deep conviction that awareness of the history of Jewish DPs (Displaced Persons) remains an important issue in Germany.
A look into the history of displaced persons
The challenges Salamander faced reflect the general experience of displaced persons after World War II. In the first years after the war, up to 11.7 million people lived in the western occupied zones of Germany, many of them were former forced laborers, concentration camp prisoners and other survivors of persecution and war. As the bpb documented, the situation for many of these people was extremely precarious. The first guidelines for dealing with DPs were issued by SHAEF in 1944, and living conditions in the camps only gradually improved. Jewish DPs were often housed in camps that also housed people of other nationalities, which led to tensions.
Between 1945 and 1950, Bavaria was an important point of contact for many displaced people. Nevertheless, after the camp was dissolved, many Jews had to overcome the challenges of integrating into a new society. Salamander's own journey from his beginnings in the DP camp to his establishment as a literary great illustrates this often overlooked part of German history. While she advocates for awareness and commemoration of DP history, she also asks herself how the roots of today's anti-Semitism can be overcome.
The return to Waldram on October 19th will not only be a personal reunion for Salamander, but also an opportunity for the community to reflect together on history, memory and the important role of displaced persons.