Portraits of German migrants to Australia – a book by Sabine Nielsen
Memories in my Luggage
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      • Stop 8: Grovedale Neighbourhood House, 1 Oct-20 Nov
      • Stop 7: Osborne House, North Geelong, 4–26 Sept
      • Stop 6: Tabulam and Templer Homes (Bayswater), 2-31 July
      • Stop 5: Chapel on Station Box Hill, 11-24 June
      • Stop 4: Goethe-Institut, 17 April-29 May
      • Stop 3: Brighton, 5-26 March
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      • Stop 1: Bonegilla, 19 Dec-25 Jan
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'Ostarbeiter' and the story of one courageous woman

2/22/2015

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Our second special event at Glen Waverley Library with Kristian Ireland created a lot of interest. "Ostarbeiter" were citizens from the occupied Ukraine and Soviet Union, and POWs who were forced to labour in Germany during WWII - often under horrendous conditions. Many died of starvation. Kristian told us about his grandmother, a courageous lady, who survived, mainly because the German family for whom she worked as a housemaid, looked after her. In spite of what they had experienced, the "Ostarbeiter" tried to avoid being sent back to Russia after the war - there they were considered "capitalist enemies" who needed to be cleansed of their Western exposure by re-education in labour camps in Siberia! Kristian's grandparents managed to hide in a camp for the Displaced and eventually migrated to Australia. Kristian continues his extensive research into this subject.
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