A key component of the project was also the 2026 annual congress of the Liberation Route Germany (LRG) in Seelow and Anklam. Representatives from Germany, Poland and the European network of the Liberation Route Europe used the event for professional exchange, joint excursions and the presentation of project results. This allowed the new stations of the history trail to be presented to a supra-regional and international audience, and their importance as a cross-border educational and tourism offering to be strengthened.

The project helped to further expand cooperation between Liberation Route Germany and Liberation Route Poland. With the extension of the German-Polish historical trail, a permanently usable cross-border offer was created that strengthens shared remembrance culture, promotes international networking among the participating institutions, and sustainably conveys the history of 1945 in the German-Polish border region.

The kick-off conference for the German-Polish project „Living Places of Remembrance“ („Żywe miejsca Pamięci“) took place at the Międzyrzecz City Library on March 18, 2026. Representatives of the project partners, from municipalities, cultural and memorial institutions, and the Interreg programme Brandenburg–Poland presented the objectives and planned activities.

The focus of the cooperation is the cross-border remembrance of the Nazi „euthanasia“ murders, as well as making visible the traces of Jewish life in the border region. The partners link historical reappraisal with educational and memorial offerings that are intended to be accessible and inclusive in the long term.

Following the opening by Katarzyna Szadkowska (City of Międzyrzecz, Head of the Department of Economic Development), the Mayor Remigiusz Lorenz In his opening address, [he/she/they] highlighted the responsibility to draw consequences from history for the present and future. [He/She/They] thanked those involved for their commitment and emphasised that the project aims to keep memories alive and strengthen solidarity.

„We cannot change what has happened in the past, but let us allow the memory of those events to change us – to make us more sensitive, more responsible, and more united when it comes to helping other people.“ (Mayor Remigiusz Lorenz)

The project partners then reported on their locations and project content:

• Ewa Walkowska (Międzyrzecz Municipality) – Historical Context and Local Partners
• Anna Chinalska & Cezary Wysocki (Lubusz Voivodeship) – Investments at the historic Obrawalde Cemetery
• Gunnar Betz (Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf District) – Town Twinning and Youth Exchange
• Jörg Krüger & Dirk Röder (City of Seelow) – Remembering Jewish Life, the „Memories Connect“ Brand and International Networking
• Antje Fröhlich (Town of Ueckermünde Seaside Resort) – Permanent Exhibition on Nazi Medical Murder and Digital Networking
• Rostock University Medicine / Dirk Röder representing Dr. Kathleen Haack – Scientific Project Management
• Brandenburg Memorials Foundation / Gunnar Betz representing – „silenced“ exhibition and new forms of remembrance

Following this, the project partners signed the partnership agreement for the project.

The conference concluded with an excursion to the memorial site and former cemetery at the hospital in Obrzyce. At these special locations, Katarzyna Sztuba-Frąckowiak, who specialises in documenting the crimes committed by the National Socialists against the hospital's patients, gave a lecture.

We thank the city of Międzyrzecz for the organisation and hospitality.

The ruins of the former network position in Santok are silent witnesses to the dramatic upheavals in Europe in 1945. They are an impressive reminder of war, flight and new beginnings - and of how fragile peace and freedom in Europe can be.

Where the Noteć River flows into the Warta today was a focal point of world history in January 1945. The ruins of the Netze position in Santok are not only military remnants, but also a reminder of the end of the Second World War and the profound upheavals in Europe.

The end of the „house of cards“

On 12 January 1945, another decisive advance towards Berlin began with the Soviet „Vistula-Oder Offensive“. The German Wehrmacht, with around 450,000 soldiers facing a superior force of 2.2 million Red Army soldiers, attempted to stop the advance at fortified lines such as the Pomeranian Wall and the Oder-Warthe Line.

Santok functioned as a strategic bridgehead at the confluence of the Netze and Warta rivers. Massive concrete bunkers were intended to secure the river crossings. However, the Soviet troops utilised their enormous mobility, bypassing the fixed positions or destroying them with direct fire from modern artillery. Santok fell at the end of January 1945, along with a number of other defence positions. The German Eastern Front collapsed like a „house of cards“, as the German General Guderian had predicted.

Santok thus marks a stage on the „road to liberation“ from Nazi tyranny. A path that also liberated extermination camps such as Auschwitz and revealed the cruelty and horror of Nazi rule to the world.

At the same time, the military caesura was associated with great human hardship: Millions of German civilians fled to the west. The subsequent „westward shift of Poland“ led to an almost complete population exchange. Large parts of the network were destroyed by pioneers of the Polish People's Army after the end of the war.

A memorial for Europe

Today, the bunker ruins in Santok have been included in the Polish register of monuments as a memorial to the war. They invite you to reflect on the common European history, e.g. along the fortification path (Szlak). Discover almost completely preserved facilities such as the circular defence bunker Object 19 or the huge concrete blocks of blasted works.
Visit Santok and experience history at the place where it happened - as part of a route that reminds us how precious peace and freedom are in Europe.

The story of the memorial site as an audio contribution.

(Language: German)

(Language: English)

(Language: Polish)

History trail war events 1945

The military cemetery of the 1st Polish Army in Stare Łysogórki is a place of silence and contemplation on the Oder, where history and landscape merge. The necropolis commemorates the dramatic endeavours of the soldiers who fought shortly before the end of the Second World War.

The military cemetery of the 1st Polish Army in Stare Łysogórki, also known as the Siekierki military cemetery, is one of the most important places of national remembrance on the Oder. The necropolis is the final resting place for soldiers who crossed the Oder and took part in the Berlin Operation in 1945.

Some 1,977 soldiers of the 1st Polish Army who lost their lives in one of the most difficult operations of the Second World War on the Eastern Front - during the crossing of the Oder and the further fighting towards Berlin - rest here.

The cemetery was laid out on a square plan and is divided into regular plots with characteristic Grunwald cross monuments, which symbolise the bravery and sacrifice of Polish soldiers. The centrepiece of the necropolis is a monumental memorial by sculptor Stanisław Lewiński, which was unveiled in 1961. It depicts a woman with a child as well as floating sails and swords, symbolising the sacrifice, hope and hardships of the military crossing of the river.

The Oder River, which the soldiers of the 1st Polish Army crossed under enemy fire, became not only a natural border in 1945, but also a symbolic gateway leading to the final victory. Crossing it meant overcoming the last major obstacle on the way to Berlin and the end of the suffering of the war on Polish soil.

Every year in April, on the anniversary of the crossing of the Oder, ceremonial commemorations of the fallen soldiers are held at the cemetery. War veterans, representatives of the military, local authorities, schoolchildren and residents of the region take part in these events to commemorate those who fought for the freedom of their homeland.

Together with the nearby Museum of Engineering Weapons History of the 1st Polish Army, the cemetery forms the centrepiece of the National Memorial Area on the Oder - an area that links memorials, monuments and museum exhibitions from Czelin to Cedynia. It is a place of contemplation, history and education and at the same time an important point on the region's historical and natural history trail.

The story of the memorial site as an audio contribution.

(Language: German)

(Language: English)

(Language: Polish)

History trail war events 1945

Oflag IIC Woldenberg was a German prisoner of war camp for Polish officers during the Second World War. Despite its imprisonment, it became a place of learning, culture and resistance, demonstrating the strength of spirit, solidarity and patriotism of the prisoners.

Oflag II C Woldenberg was the largest German prisoner of war camp for officers of the Polish army during the Second World War. It was established in autumn 1939 on the site of today's Dobiegniew, then known as the German Woldenberg. The camp covered an area of 24 hectares and was surrounded by double barbed wire fences and watchtowers. Over 6,000 Polish officers and officer cadets who had taken part in the September offensive and later battles in Europe were housed in several barracks.

Everyday life in the camp was tough. Hunger, illness, monotony and deprivation of liberty were hard on the prisoners. Nevertheless, they led an intensive cultural and intellectual life. There were three choirs, a symphony orchestra and a theatre, and lectures, vocational training courses and courses of study were organised as part of the University of Woldenberg. There was also a conspiratorial independence organisation. Of particular importance was the conspiratorial radio listening organised by the „R” group, which provided information from the front lines of the war and from the occupied country.

Sport was an important part of life behind barbed wire. Football and volleyball matches were played regularly, and in 1944 a large tournament was organised under the name „Olympic Year 1944 in Camp II C”, which followed on from the cancelled Olympic Games in London. In the autumn of the same year, after the failure of the Warsaw Uprising, over 100 Home Army officers came to the camp, which intensified the conspiratorial and patriotic activities.

On 25 January 1945, the Germans ordered the evacuation of the camp in view of the approaching Eastern Front. The prisoners were led away under heavy guard in two columns, „East” and „West”. The eastern column was liberated on 30 January 1945 in Dziedzice by tanks of the Soviet 55th Tank Brigade. The western column was driven across the Oder, where it was liberated by American and Canadian troops. Finally, on 3 May 1945, the last prisoners of Oflag II C Woldenberg regained their freedom.

Today there is a museum on the site of the former camp, a memorial dedicated to the fate of the Polish officers, their resilience, their solidarity and their struggle to preserve their dignity and national identity under the conditions of imprisonment.

The story of the museum as an audio contribution.

(Language: German)

(Language: English)

(Language: Polish)

History trail war events 1945

The Wulkow memorial site has been a digital memorial since 2024. It commemorates the subcamp of the Theresienstadt ghetto of the same name, which existed from 1944 to 1945. Almost 400 Jewish prisoners performed forced labour there for the construction of a secret alternative site for the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA).

The Wulkow satellite camp was established in March 1944 in a wooded area near Neuhardenberg in Brandenburg. The strategic purpose was to build an alternative service centre for Office IV RSHA (Gestapo) and the NSDAP party chancellery.

Under camouflage names such as „Dachs“ or „Barackenbau Zossen“ and under the initial direction of Adolf Eichmann, administrative offices and secret archives were to be protected from Allied air raids. The prisoners had to build barracks, intelligence facilities and a file bunker under extreme time pressure and with the utmost secrecy.

The victims and their living conditions

A total of almost 400 Jewish prisoners were deported from the Theresienstadt ghetto to Wulkow, including highly qualified craftsmen and engineers. The prisoners, including around 34 women, came from the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria. The work was seen as a deceptive „life insurance policy“ for the prisoners, as they were supposed to be protected from deportation to extermination camps in exchange for their labour. However, everyday life under the sadistic commandant Franz Stuschka was characterised by brutal violence, hunger and inhumane punishments.

In February 1945, the camp was evacuated due to the approaching Red Army; the prisoners were taken back to Theresienstadt in cattle wagons under agonising conditions.

Meaning today

Today, Wulkow functions as a digital place of remembrance, which was opened in April 2024. As there are hardly any structural remains on site, the memorial uses modern digital formats to bring together the scattered biographies of the victims and make their voices heard after decades of silence. Through seminars, memorial walks and the online exhibition, the Wulkow working group, in cooperation with the Campus Schloss Trebnitz educational centre, makes an important contribution to coming to terms with regional Nazi crimes and to political education.
This place of remembrance acts like a digital echo that carries the fragments of history that were once hidden in the forest into the global public sphere in order to permanently preserve the identity of the victims.

The story of the memorial site as an audio contribution.

(Language: German)

(Language: English)

(Language: Polish)

History trail war events 1945

From 1940 to 1945, the prison served as a detention centre for members of the Wehrmacht. Sentences included desertion, disobedience, homosexuality, subversion of military power, theft, unauthorised removal, self-mutilation and murder.

The Anklam Wehrmacht prison began operating as a prison for military justice on 25 November 1940. The prisoners were male members of the Wehrmacht who had been sentenced by the courts, remand prisoners or prisoners in transit from Wehrkreise I, II and XX, Luftgauen I and XI, the Baltic Sea area of the navy and Army Group North.

In at least 139 cases, the Anklam prison can be shown to have applied the Special War Criminal Law Ordinance, which was linked to the imposition of the death penalty. The sentences of those not sentenced to death varied greatly. Among them, however, the prison routine or their labour assignments in the city and its surroundings were similar. The structures of the Anklam Wehrmacht prison were maintained until the last days of April 1945. Executions and pardons of death sentences were still being carried out on 26 April 1945.

The shifting front line of the Soviet army, with a major advance towards the north of Germany, took place between 27 and 28 April 1945. On the night of 29 April 1945, the Allies entered Anklam. It was to be the day of the last major battle for Anklam. The town (70-80%) was almost completely destroyed by bombing, shelling and arson by German and Allied troops.

Alarm units were still deployed in the prison against the Soviet army. The guards set off with a group of prisoners on an evacuation march to the west on 28 April 1945. Two days later, the column had marched through Tribsees and continued on towards Bad Sülze. This unit was picked up on the morning of 1 May 1945. (Source reference: Das Anklamer Wehrmachtgefängnis, Schwerin 2021, published by the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern State Centre for Political Education)

The former Wehrmacht prison is part of Anklam's museum landscape and its content is designed together with the „Centre for Peace Work - Otto Lilienthal - Hanseatic City of Anklam“ foundation.

The main topics for visitors are guided tours and workshops on the history of the site and its surroundings, military justice and democracy, everyday life and biographies of the prisoners. The death cell section of the building, which was set up as a memorial in the 1960s, is open to the public as a place of remembrance and as part of a museum visit.

The story of the museum as an audio contribution.

(Language: German)

(Language: English)

(Language: Polish)

History trail war events 1945

Interreg VI A funding project 2026-2028

The project is concerned with the reappraisal, visualisation and networking of the „History of the Nazi murders of the sick“ in Międzyrzecz, Berlin and Ueckermünde and the „Traces of Jewish life“ in Seelow, Międzyrzecz, Berlin and Ueckermünde.

In cross-border cooperation, the project partners are revitalising or re-establishing nationally significant places of remembrance, equipping them with digital exhibitions and linking them thematically with each other. In addition to sustainable investments in the expansion of the places of remembrance, the development of cross-border educational tourism offers is a project focus, with inclusive elements and the involvement of relevant target groups.

The aim is to improve access to the places of remembrance involved and thus to the shared history of the German-Polish border region, which is unique in the context of the end of the Second World War and the westward shift of Poland.

Key project outputs

„History of the Nazi murders of the sick“

• Cross-border measures for knowledge exchange and networking,
• Revitalisation of the Międzyrzecz-Obrzyce cemetery and memorial,
• Design and construction of a contemplation garden on the Międzyrzecz clinic grounds
  Obrzyce as part of a German-Polish youth project with trainees from gardening and landscaping companies in Berlin and Międzyrzecz,
  
  Development of an exhibition on the history of Nazi hospital murders in Ueckermünde in the AMEOS Clinic,
• Development and linking of new and existing digital exhibitions on the history of the Nazi murders in Międzyrzecz-Obrzyce and Ueckermünde, Polish translation and linking of the „Totgeschwiegen“ exhibition in Berlin,
• Development of target group-orientated modules for educational tourism on the history of the Nazi murders of the sick at the project partners, networked in terms of content and for cross-border marketing.

„Traces of Jewish life“

• Cross-border measures for knowledge exchange and networking,
• Construction of a new memorial and meeting place „former Jewish cemetery Seelow“ at the former original site,
• Development of four circular routes with digital elements on traces of Jewish life in Seelow, Międzyrzecz, Ueckermünde and Berlin-Charlottenburg,
• Development of target group-orientated modules for educational tourism on traces of Jewish life at the project partners, networked in terms of content and for cross-border marketing.

In this way, the project meets the common challenge of improving mutual access to cultural heritage and to the tourist and cultural offerings in the assisted area and utilising the opportunities offered by culture and tourism to expand cross-border links.

The „Remembrance connects“ network provides a suitable framework for networking and disseminating the project's new educational tourism programmes. The project takes up the strategy of the multi-perspective remembrance landscape Oder-Warthe and consolidates the cross-border educational tourism offer for the significant era of the Second World War in the region.

Historical context

The cross-border approach and the need to involve partners outside the funding area arise from the distribution and role of the Nazi perpetrator sites in the former Reich territory. People with mental disabilities were isolated in the former clinic in Berlin, selected and deported to the sanatorium in Meseritz-Obrawalde, where around 10,000 people were murdered. A crematorium for the extermination of Nazi victims was set up and trialled for the first time on a hospital site at the Ueckermünde State Sanatorium. In line with the small number and distribution of today's memorials to the complex of Nazi hospital murders, there is a need to utilise previously untapped potential for remembrance work (Międzyrzecz, Ueckermünde) and to make it possible to experience history in context.

Preserving the traces of Jewish life is also an important task of German political remembrance work. Jews were repeatedly subjected to persecution and expulsion, most recently during the Nazi era, when the National Socialists systematically expelled and exterminated the entire Jewish population.

The forced migration of the population in connection with the westward shift of Poland as well as politically and ideologically driven cultures of remembrance in the former GDR and the People's Republic of Poland led to the neglect of many Jewish sites such as cemeteries and synagogues. There is a need to preserve traces and make history tangible across borders. The existing knowledge and experience of the project partners as well as locations and networks outside of the funded area are utilised and linked in order to achieve positive effects in the funded area.

Project partners

• Municipality of Międzyrzecz (Lead Partner)
• Marshal's Office of the Lubuskie Voivodeship, Department of Geodesy, Real Estate Management and Spatial Planning - Subdepartment of Spatial Planning
• Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district of Berlin
• City of Seelow (Mark)
• Town of Seebad Ueckermünde
• Rostock University Medical Centre
• Brandenburg Memorials Foundation, Memorial to the Victims of the Euthanasia Murders (associated partner)

Project duration:          01.01.2026 - 31.12.2028

Next activities

• September/October 2026, Berlin: Trainee Project Week 1 with workshops „Nazi Medical Murders“ and „Inclusion“
• October 2026, Brandenburg: Expert workshop „Educational Tourism with People with Disabilities“
• Nov. 2026, Seelow: Workshop „Traces of Jewish Life“

Project News

Kick-off conference for the „Living Places of Remembrance“ project“

11 May 2026

The kick-off conference for the German-Polish project „Living Places of Remembrance“ brought together representatives of the project partners at Międzyrzecz Public Library.

Interreg VI A funding project 2025-2028

People have been shaping, cultivating and moulding the Oder-Warthe region for centuries. The resulting cultural landscape is a reflection of the needs, values and traditions of our society. The project aims to tell the common history of the Oder-Warthe region through its cultural landscape, interactively and from different perspectives.

The historical development of cultivation methods and processes forms an important part of our shared history and cultural identity, traces of which can be found in the landscape, in traditional forms of cultivation, dishes, natural products and much more on both sides of today's border. Making the cross-border cultural landscape tangible therefore offers great potential for understanding our common past, strengthening awareness of our shared cultural heritage and regional identity and developing a shared sense of responsibility for the future design and utilisation of the landscape.

The project contributes to improving mutual access to the natural and cultural heritage and to tourist and cultural offers at 6 locations by developing new interactive experience stations and networking them across borders. The new brand Kulturland Spuren Lebus (working title) is part of the tourism brand „Erinnerung verbindet“ Oder-Warthe.

The planned experience stations are: 

• Słońsk (PL):       
  The work of the Order of St John in shaping the cultural landscape,
• Kienitz:                
  History of park landscape design using the example of the Kienitz estate park,
• Kostrzyn nad Odrą (PL):
  The influence of the military on the development of the cultural landscape using the example of Küstrin Fortress,
• Buckow (DE):
  Rich in wildlife - history of forest utilisation (wild herbs, mushrooms, forest fruits and co.),
• Seelow (DE):
  Cultivated land use today (sustainable agriculture, renewable energies, landscape conservation),
• Schweizerhaus Seelow (DE):
  Nature discovery park on the history of regional crops.

Nature and learning trails are created at each location. Participatory approaches with analogue and digital elements in several languages and in simple language enable knowledge transfer on different levels. Visitors experience cultural history and shared traditions at different locations and from different perspectives in an active form. They can make traditional products or actively protect the environment. A particular focus is on communicating sustainable strategies and methods for preserving the diversity of the cultural landscape and the consequences of human misbehaviour on the climate and the environment.

Project partner:

• Municipality of Słońsk (PL), lead partner
• City of Seelow (Mark)
• City of Kostrzyn nad Odrą
• Municipality of Letschin
• Märkische Schweiz Nature Conservation Park Association.
• Heimatverein „Schweizerhaus Seelow“ e.V.
• Warta Estuary National Park (associated partner)
• Märkische Schweiz Nature Park (associated partner)

Project duration:           01.09.2025 - 31.08.2028

The symposium „Expulsion, Forced Migration, Loss of Culture 1945 in the Oder-Warthe Region“ focussed on the complex German-Polish history in the border region, particularly after the Second World War. It opened up a space for German-Polish dialogue about the profound upheavals of 1945.

The region exemplifies forced migration, loss and new beginnings, the after-effects of which can still be felt today. Here, memory is understood as a relationship - open, multi-perspective and in dialogue. The aim is not a ready-made narrative, but a responsible narrative that combines science and personal experience, involves young people and builds bridges between research, education and the public.

The „Remembrance connects“ funding project creates a cross-border network that makes historical sites visible and preserves traces. In this way, remembrance becomes a process that opens up horizons, enables understanding and shapes the future.

Programme:

Opening:

Panel I: Historical classification

Lunch break
and tour of the Museum in the Kulturhaus Küstrin-Kietz under the professional supervision of the Association for the History of Küstrin e.V.

Panel II: Local perspectives - cultural loss - cultural appropriation?

A conference volume will be produced, which will contain additional specialist contributions:

We would like to thank our host at the Kulturhaus Küstrin-Kietz, our project partners and speakers, our interpreters, our photographer Mr Ahrendt and our film team from Parkosmedia. We would also like to thank our sponsor and the active participants of the symposium.

Images ©Town of Seelow, photos by Klaus Ahrendt