Photo: Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin, Germany | photo by Jan-Christian Petersen (c)) The following article was almost entirly autotranslated from German
On today’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, the first thing that comes to my mind is the delayed process of coming to terms with the past by our parents‘ and grandparents‘ generation. During my own school days, we had learned about the Holocaust, but we had always thought that it really happend somehere else in Germany, not here in rural North Frisia in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. Decades later, we had to realize that the North Frisian population had been among the strongest supporters of the NSDAP. Our grandparents‘ generation had remained silent, and our parents hardly dared to ask questions.
It is painful to deal with the stories of the victims, but it is necessary. The full extent of these German crimes still exceeds anything I can imagine. If you open yourself up to these dimensions, you can despair. The Holocaust is so enormous, so unspeakable. Every single life that was destroyed by the Germans is worth remembering and being heard by future generations.
For me, the local historical analysis of this topic was primarily carried out in the work of Christian M. Sörensen, who presented a standard work with his dissertation “Political Development and Rise of the NSDAP in the Districts of Husum and Eiderstedt.” The works of Thomas Steensen, Fiete Pingel, Uwe Danker, Eva Nowottny, Nils Köhler, and Michael Ruck are also worth mentioning with regard to the history and research of forced labor in rural areas. There are many other contributions from researchers and citizens. I am also very grateful to the Working Group for Research on National Socialism (AKENS) and all the other civic institutions, initiatives, and foundations that keep the memory alive.
I myself see it as our duty as Germans to remind the world of these crimes so that others are spared from making the same mistakes. For me, that is German identity. We owe it to the victims.
Jan-Christian Petersen
One Of My Literary Contributions On The Subject
Listen to my story “Von Schnecken und Menschen” (Of Snails and Men) on the Kiel Literature Telephone. This fictional piece contains the condensed essence of many historical events that took place in North Frisia. German only: https://literaturtelefon-kiel.de/beitraege/2025/jan-christian-petersen