This interview is about Herbert Böhm. Herbert was born on the 12th of March, 1901 in Trebnitz, Silesia, Germany (now Poland). In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, Herbert and his wife Teresa were itinerant workers. They had 8 children. When one of the children fell ill with pneumonia, the family asked for help. Because they begged for food, Herbert and Teresa were arrested and sent to a work camp. The children were permanently taken from their family and put into orphanages or work. In October 1940, under the “Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich” (Operation Work-Shy Reich) Herbert was transferred to Sachsenhausen where he became prisoner number 33753, and a forced skilled laborer.
Kelsey interviewed Herbert’s great-grandson, Ludwig. After the destruction of the family, it has taken over 80 years, and three generations for Herbert’s family to piece together what happened.
Ludwig is a co-founder of the organisation, “Association for the Remembrance of the Denied Victims of National Socialism (Vevon)”, which in German is, “Verband für das Erinnern an die verleugneten Opfer des Nationalsozialismus (Vevon)”.
You can also find more about the traveling exhibition Ludwig mentioned, “The Disavowed. Victims of National Socialism 1933 – 1945 – today”.
If you’d like to see the Böhm family portrait, click here to visit the episode webpage.
Descendants Stuff podcast is produced by Jakob Feisthauer, Kelsey Snook and Nicole Wines – three descendants of Sachsenhausen prisoners and co-creators of the Sachsenhausen Stuff project.
The Descendants Stuff team would like to extend a special thank you to the team at Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum especially Dr. Astrid Ley, and the members of the educational department’s project “What Voice Do We Have?”, as well as the descendant’s collective Voices of the Next Generation.
Our theme music, “Heil, Sachsenhausen!” was written and performed by former Sachsenhausen prisoner Aleksander Kulisiewicz. Thanks to the United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum and the Aleksander Kulisiewicz collection for granting permission for its use. If you are a Sachsenhausen descendant who would like to share your story, please contact us.