From: Dok Zwangsarbeit
Dear colleague,
we would like to inform you that our institute has to coordinate a big
documentation project, called "International Forced Labourers Documentation
Project" and the interview-teams in about 16 countries on behalf of the
Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" in Berlin. It is planned
to collect about 550 audio- and video-interviews mainly in Eastern Europe,
in Middle and Western Europe, in Israel and the United States.
We would be very glad if you together with an institution could participate
in the call for biddings for a part of this project in your country or if
you could inform other colleagues. You find the call for bids attached in
German, English and in Russian, also on our website. If you are interested,
please, send your application to this email-address (see below).
We are looking forward to hearing from you.
With kind regards
yours
Alexander v. Plato
Christoph Thonfeld
---------------------------------
Institut fuer Geschichte und Biographie
der Fernununiversität Hagen
Liebigstr. 11
D-58511 Lüdenscheid
Deutschland/Germany
International Forced Labourers Documentation Project
Documentation of the life stories of former slave and forced labourers
A funding programme of the "Remembrance and Future" Fund in cooperation with
the Institute for History and Biography, Distance University Hagen
During the 2nd World War, in Germany and German-occupied countries,
approximately 12 million slave and forced labourers were put to work. As a
gesture of reconciliation, the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and
Future", which was founded in Germany in 2000, pays financial benefits to
these victims of National Socialism. Since that time, more than 1.5 million
people in over 80 countries have been reached by the Foundation. The "Remembrance
and Future" Fund is part of the Foundation which supports international
projects in the interest of international understanding. It is an essential
task of the fund to keep the memory of the victims of National Socialism
alive for generations to come.
For many years, there have been diverse initiatives in Germany and in those
countries particularly affected by the German occupation, or rather where
many victims of National Socialism live today, which document the
experiences of former slave and forced labourers and keep them alive for
future generations. Sixty years after the end of the war, the "Remembrance
and Future" Fund wants to support scientific and social initiatives in those
countries so that they can conduct about 550 interviews with former slave or
forced labourers. On behalf of the fund, the Institute for History and
Biography at the Distance University in Hagen, which has been able to
collect valuable experiences in Oral History in Germany since the beginning
of the 1990s, is going to coordinate projects supported within this
programme, to organize the international exchange of experiences among them
and to make sure that documentations follow the same criteria and meet the
required quality standard. The resulting documentations should be
dual-purpose: On the one hand, they should be available for science and
historical-political education in Germany, in order to keep the memory of
former slave and forced labourers alive here. On the other hand, they should
enable supported initiatives to make efforts in their countries to keep the
memory of the fate of these people there.
How many testimonies can be documented within the framework of this
programme?
Altogether, about 550 interviews will be conducted, approx. 440 on audio
tapes and approx. 110 additionally on videotape with BETA SP-cameras (analog
or digital). At least one third of all interviews should be conducted with
former slave labourers, i.e., with survivors who had to do heaviest forced
labour in a concentration camp, ghetto or a comparable place of confinement.
In consideration of the number of survivors and the great need in the
countries of Middle Eastern Europe especially, in different countries a
different amount of interviews shall be funded. It will presumably be
possible to support approximately 80 interviews in Poland and in the Ukraine
respectively, in Russia about 60, and in Belarus and the Czech Republic
about 40 interviews each. An additional 80 interviews with Jewish survivors
who do not live in the countries mentioned can presumably be supported.
About 60 interviews with non-Jewish survivors who do not live in the
countries mentioned could possibly be supported, as well. In addition, a
quarter of these interviews will be conducted as video interviews.
Who shall be interviewed?
Above all, persons who so far had no opportunity to document their life
story should be interviewed. In those countries where Roma and Sinti
survivors live today, those victims should be taken into particular
consideration. It is also possible to question Nazi victims who are not
eligible for benefits in the sense of the Law on the Creation of a
Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" (e. g. forced labourers
from Western European countries, Soviet prisoners of war).
It is expected that applicants will have experiences in working with
survivors and can therefore name concrete persons with whom interviews are
intended. In doing so, they should closely cooperate with victims
organisations and the partner organisations of the Foundation "Remembrance,
Responsibility and Future" (addresses are to be found out under
www.stiftung-evz.de).
How shall the interviews be disposed?
Interviews are conducted for historical-political education and for
scientific purposes. The centre of the interview will be each the
individuals experience of national-socialist slave or forced labour. At the
same time, eye witnesses should also report how they have coped with this
experience after 1945. They should spontaneously and unrestrictedly describe
their own experiences in free interviews. An interview manual will enable
the interviewers to go through questioning into those aspects which have at
first been neglected in the accounts. In any case, interviews are to be
conducted empathically and with respect for the life story and suffering of
the questioned persons. All projects promoted within the framework of this
programme will have the opportunity to discuss the methods of interview
conduct in joint international workshops and to exchange their experiences.
There, the guidelines for the documentation of the interviews will also be
coordinated (e. g. through speech protocol, data sheet and short
biography). All interviews have to be given voluntarily and consenting to an
exclusively non-commercial use of the interviews for education and science.
What is the ratio between audio and video interviews?
All interviews should be of high sound quality. For all audio interviews,
transliteration in each national language should be guaranteed - a decisive
prerequisite for future use. Additionally, video interviews on TV-standard
should be conducted with at least a quarter of the interviewees.
What can be funded?
It is possible to support
- fees which are customary in the place for interviewers for
conducting interviews and documenting them (protocol, short biography and
data sheet)
- travel expenses in each country
- costs for the transliteration of the interviews in each national
language
- material costs for audio cassettes, video tapes, lease rental
charges for equipment and other material;
- for video interviews additionally: fees for cameraperson and
technician
- for a selection of the interviews: translation into German
The Foundation expects that applicants will bring their own resources, e. g.
in the shape of own material or third party funds, into the project work.
Additional to the funding, the Foundation is going to finance participation
of at least one representative of each project in the planned international
workshops.
What cannot be supported?
The funding is exclusively related to single interviews. Institutional
support is excluded. It is not possible to support:
- posts for personnel
- administrative costs
- costs for telephone and other means of communication
The acquisition of equipment can only be supported if this results in
substantial savings in comparison to corresponding, customary to the place
lease costs or if applicants make an essential contribution on their own.
Costs for projects that have already been concluded cannot be reimbursed
retrospectively. It is also not possible for projects promoted within the
framework of this programme to settle costs incurred before the assurance of
support by the fund. The "Remembrance and Future" Fund and the Institute for
History and Biography are fully aware of the great urgency of the funding
decisions within this programme. Therefore, they will make special efforts
to guarantee that received funding applications will be processed as quickly
as possible.
Who can file an application?
The Foundation expects that applicants already have concrete ideas and plans
for future use of the interviews. It is particularly expected that these
interviews are permanently made available in culturally important
institutions of each country for scientific and educational purposes.
It is possible to file applications for:
- associations, social organisations, colleges, universities,
museums and memorials whose activities are directed towards the memory of
the victims of National Socialism
- historians who have worked on these matters and cooperate with the
above mentioned institutions.
As the "Remembrance and Future" Fund can only conclude contracts with legal
persons (i.e., not with natural persons) historians have to gain such
associations, universities, memorials, institutions or else which are able
to undertake the administration of funds for their project. In this case the
Foundation recommends as close as possible cooperation with those
institutions that eventually want to make project results available for
education and science.
Who obtains the rights to use the interviews for science and education?
It is to be agreed with the interviewees that the interviewers and the "Remembrance
and Future" Fund obtain the rights of use in education, science and
journalism. The Institute for History and Biography also obtains shared
rights of use in this sense.
Application procedure
Application may be filed until 10.Dezember 2004
under the following address in German, English or, if need be, in Russian:
Institut für Geschichte und Biographie
der FernUniversität Hagen
Liebigstr. 11
D-58511 Lüdenscheid
Deutschland
Applicants please orientate themselves by the accompanying checklist.
Contact:
Dr. cand. phil Almut Leh
PD Dr. Alexander von Plato
Dr. Christoph Thonfeld
Telefon +49 (0)2351 24580 Fax +49 (0)2351 39973
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Applications may be handed in via e-mail in advance.
Granting procedure
Decisions about the funding will presumably be made in January 2005 by an
international expert jury with participation of representatives of the
partner organisations of the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and
Future". Criteria for a grant will be:
- previous experience in research about slave or forced labour
during National Socialism and the 2nd World War or in historical-political
education
- previous experiences in oral questionings of victims of National
Socialism
- a concept to gain interview partners. Concrete proposals or rather
the intended approach to win survivors for the scheme (in cooperation with
victims associations)
- concrete ideas for further use of the interviews in each country
- an economical calculation of costs as well as factual and
financial services on own account
In the view of restricted means the jury has to pay attention that those
countries and groups are taken into sufficient consideration who represent
most slave and forced labourers. Unfortunately, it can not be assumed that
all applications will be granted entirely. Therefore, the Foundation asks
all applicants to inform survivors in this sense while preparing the project
and not to make any corresponding assurances until a covenant of support by
the "Remembrance and Future" Fund.
As a rule, granting will be declared through an allowance contract between
the "Remembrance and Future" Fund and the applicant. The contract will
include a granting costs projection together with the project budget.
Project term and payment procedure
Projects can presumably start their work from March 2005. All intended
interviews should be carried out in 2005, as far as possible. Funds will be
administered by the Institute for History and Biography and will be paid out
through Distance University Hagen depending on the course of the project.
Reports
For each interview, a short speech protocol, a short biography, a data
sheet, photos of interviewees, and, as the case may be, of relevant
documents and pictures as well as a declaration of consent of the interview
partners for the use of the interviews should be submitted in German or
English. Moreover, at least one technically flawless audio or video copy of
all interviews, transliterations into the national language, and a final
report in German or English about the course of the project and the future
utilization of the interviews are to be submitted. The usage of funds must
be proven with receipts in a separate financial report in German. These
documents will be checked factually and financially by the Institute for
History and Biography.
Checklist for applicants
Applications must be submitted in written form, with original signature in
German or English, if need be, in Russian. Applications must include the
following particulars:
I. Project summary
Short particulars of the applicant (country, name, function) or rather of
the applying institution (legal form, public utility, address, bank
account), if need be, data concerning legally binding representation (make
sure of a legally binding signature when submitting the application)
Short information about the project executing organisation (if not identical
with the applicant or rather with the applying institution as under point
1), name, address, bank account.
Total costs of the project, funds applied for with the Foundation as well
as, as the case may be, own resources or third party funds
Project term
Number of intended audio and video interviews
II. Information about the project
Introduction of the applicant (previous research activities in the history
of National Socialism, the Holocaust and the 2nd World War and especially in
the questioning of contemporary witnesses)
Data on the eye witnesses that will be questioned (names, reasons for
choice) or concerning the intended approach to gain eye witnesses
Presentation of the intended use of the interviews in science and education
in applicants´ country
Additional information about the project executing organisation (legal form,
association articles, register of associations, authorisation, as the case
may be, personnel of bodies and boards, public utility, if need be, the last
annual report (please submit corresponding documents)
III. Costs projection (expenses in Euro)
The calculation of the costs projection should be made according to the
intended number of interviews. Additionally, a quarter of the interviews can
be recorded on video. At the same time, an average interview length of
approximately 4 hours should be assumed. For the calculation of costs, the
preparation and postprocessing of the interviews (preparation for the eye
witnesses, data sheet, short protocol, short biography in German or
English), material costs and travel expenses have to be taken into
consideration. For all interviews, there will incur costs for the
transliteration into the national language, too, for about one quarter of
the interviews additionally costs for a translation into German.
For the checking of the applications we need the following particulars:
Total number of interviews
Thereof on audio cassette
On video (BETA-SP)
Costs in Europer interviewTotal
Fee for interviewer per interview (including preparation and postprocessing
of the interviews, as well as short protocol, short biography and data sheet
in German or English, if need be, including necessary translation costs)
Fee for one cameraperson and one technician per video interview
Costs for audio cassette material
Costs for video tape material
Costs for an audio cassette device
Costs for camera lease per day
Presumable average travel expenses for audio interviews (for one
interviewer)
Presumable average travel expenses for video interviews (for one
interviewer, one cameraperson and one technician)
Subtotal (interview and material costs)
Fee for the transliteration of the interviews into the national language
(per standard page or rather 1.800 characters)
Fee for the translation of the interview transliteration into German (per
standard page or rather 1.800 characters)
Subtotal (transliteration and translation)
Total costs
Own funds
Submitted funds
All particulars in the calculation of costs have to be counted corresponding
to local prices and salaries. Please indicate as well which factual services
on own account (e. g. recording equipment) can be provided for the project
gratuitously.
International Forced Labourers Documentation Project
Dr. cand.phil Almut Leh
PD Dr. Alexander v. Plato
Dr. Christoph Thonfeld
[log in to unmask]
Tel. +49(0)2351-24580
Fax +49(0)2351-39973
http://www.fernuni-hagen.de/INST_GESCHUBIOG
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