DS040 White Buses (english)
Kelsey interviewed Ole Jonny Hansen, a representative of the Norwegian White Buses organization, while touring the Death March memorial in the Below Forest. This site is where thousands of prisoners stopped to camp on their forced march by the Nazis. On 21 April 1945 the SS forced more than 30,000 inmates of Sachsenhausen concentration camp, […]
DS038 Walking Our History: Inside the “Entangled Pasts” Exhibition at Sachsenhausen (english)
What does it feel like to see your own family history inside a memorial museum? In this episode, we—three descendants of former Sachsenhausen concentration camp prisoners—take you with us as we walk the historic camp grounds. From the infamous gates of Tower A to the haunting underground tunnels, we retrace our ancestors’ steps and confront […]
DS036 Honoring the women of the Sachsenhausen brothel (english)
Kelsey interviews Tom Mustroph who, along with partner Barbara Gstaltmayr, is working to create a memorial honoring the women who were forced to work at the Sachsenhausen brothel. The working title of the project is: “Gedenken für die Frauen, die im Lagerbordell des KZ Sachsenhausen zur Prostition gezwungen wurden.” In english this translates to: “In remembrance […]
DS035 Forced prostitution in concentration camps (english)
In this episode, Kelsey speaks with Robert Sommer, author of the book, “The Concentration Camp Brothel: Forced Sexual Labor Under Nazi Rule”. Sachsenhausen operated a brothel within the camp, located above the morgue of the pathology building. Robert shares why the brothel existed, how it fit into the Nazi system of operations and racial hierarchy, […]
DS033 Dr. Astrid Ley (english)
For this episode, the full podcast team of Descendent Stuff came together in Tower A on the site of the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The occasion was the 81st anniversary of the liberation of the camp. Kelsey, Nicole, and Jakob spoke with Dr. Astrid Ley, lead researcher and professional director of the memorial. They discussed […]
DS032 Dik de Boef (english)
Dik de Boef is the honorary president of the International Sachsenhausen Committee. On the occasion of the 81st anniversary of the liberation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Nicole spoke with him about his parents’ activities during World War II, his own experiences during the war, and his commitment to peace and democracy. Descendants Stuff podcast […]
DS030 Friedrich Altenhein (english)
This episode of Descendants Stuff is about Friedrich “Fritz” Altenhein. He was born in 1893 in Korbach, Germany and was a metalworker and communist city councilor as well as a member of the KPD since 1925. On February 4, 1937, Fritz was arrested by the Gestapo at his workplace and later sentenced to three years […]
DS025 Clemens Paul Feige (english)
This interview is about Clemens Paul Feige. He was born in 1893 in Altreichenau, Waldenburg district (Silesia), Germany. On June 20 1938, at the age of 45, Clemens was deported as part of the “Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich” (Operation Work-Shy Reich), brought to Sachsenhausen, and became prisoner number 3162. He died at Sachsenhausen in December 1939. […]
DS024 Jan Pikna (english)
This interview is about Jan Pikna. Jan was born on the 24th of February, 1919 in Sebranice, nowadays Czechia. In 1939 he was a 20 year old student at Masaryk University in Brno, in occupied Protactorate Böhmen und Mähren. In the early morning of November 17, 1939, the Gestapo rounded up Jan along with 1,122 […]
DS022 History of Spanish prisoners at Sachsenhausen (english)
Descendant’s Stuff co-producers Kelsey and Nicole discuss the little-known history of Spanish prisoners at Sachsenhausen, and share clips from a May 2025 interview with Spanish Ambassador to Germany, Pascual Navarro, conducted during the Sachsenhausen Memorial’s 80th Anniversary of Liberation commemoration. Special thanks to Ambassador to Germany, Pascual Navarro for taking the time for the interview, […]