The new year has just begun and the first activity of our association took us straight to Berlin.
ANEI – the Italian organization committed to the history and recognition of Italian military internees (also known as IMI) invited us to a conference on January 16th.
The evening before, all participants met for a meal in the well-known “Zillestube”. A typical old Berlin restaurant with very friendly service, where several tables were reserved for us and we could chat and get to know each other while eating delicious food.
The chosen conference location the next day was very appropriate and special, it took place in the Berlin Documentation Center for Nazi Forced Labor.
Many accepted ANEI’s invitation. Since we have known those responsible for the documentation center and ANEI for a long time, we were asked to present the history of the “REIMAHG”, with a focus on the IMIs. The over 20 speakers came from all over Germany, Poland and Austria.
ANEI had organized everything excellently and there was always enough time to meet up with participants and friends with whom we have been working for a long time, to chat, to exchange experiences in the work and to discuss future plans.
While the morning and early afternoon were characterized by many lectures, there was enough to discuss in the subsequent round of discussions. The speakers and their institutions primarily dealt with the topic of IMIs, which primarily raised questions about how they work, documentation and access to the Italian archives.
Conclusion of the conference: a large circle of interested people on a very interesting and important topic, which enabled us to expand the awareness of the “REIMAHG” story and subsequently make many new contacts.
We are very much looking forward to working more closely with ANEI in the future!
More information about ANEI’s work: www.anei.it
Documentation Center for Nazi Forced Labor in Berlin: www.ns-zwangsarbeit.de