Emsland remembers: Students unveil plaques about the Dalum Nazi forced camp

Emsland remembers: Students unveil plaques about the Dalum Nazi forced camp

In a special event on June 19, 2025, students from the Zwilling Scholl High School in Geeste dared to intensively examine the history of the Emsland camps. The project focused on the Nazi forced camp in Dalum and today's war cemetery, which contains numerous, often unknown victims. The information boards created by the students, which shed light on important historical connections, were ceremoniously inaugurated during a ceremonial setting. Around 30 guests were present to mark this momentous moment Emsland.de reported.

Jonah Wachtling, a teacher in training, who discussed the history of the war cemetery in the elective history course, emphasized the relevance of such projects for historical-political education. The students were supported by Kristina Seibel, education officer for the German War Graves Commission, and Jacqueline Meurisch, memorial educator and historian. Meurisch emphasized how important it is to make the topic tangible for young people in order to raise awareness of democracy.

The Dalum war cemetery

The war cemetery in Dalum is not only one of the largest in Emsland, it is also a place of remembrance that is home to numerous Soviet prisoners of war who suffered and died between 1933 and 1945. It is estimated that between 8,000 and 16,000 victims lie here, whose names are often unknown. Among the burials known by name are 37 Russians, one Russian woman and one Italian. Some burials also come from neighboring camps such as Wietmarschen or Groß Hesepe, as the Esterwegen memorial shows ( gedenkstaette-esterwegen.de ).

Particular focus was on the biography of the Soviet prisoner of war Wassili Kaskolin, which was reconstructed by the student Xenia Singer. Through such individual stories, the events surrounding the Nazi regime are given a face and become tangible. Hermann-Josef Schulten, headmaster of the Brüder-Scholl-Oberschule, sees this as an important step towards coming to terms with the past and emphasizes the need to particularly deal with the Nazi history locally.

A strong network for processing

The initiatives that emerge from this project impressively show how important collaboration between schools, memorials and institutions is. Dr. des. Martin Koers, co-director of the Esterwegen Memorial, pointed out the variety of approaches to reconstructing and understanding the history of transformation. The German War Graves Commission and the Esterwegen Memorial are actively committed to remembrance work and thus promote historical-political education in the region.

A cultural conclusion to the event was a performance by the school band in the break hall, which brought the participants together for a moment. Finally, thanks go to the community of Geeste and its archive, who supported this important educational work so that the memories of the victims of Nazi rule are not forgotten.