In 2021, Sima Dehgani traces the history of the Ukrainian village of Yevmynka through photographs. In 1943, almost all the village’s inhabitants were deported. Many were taken to Munich, some to Neuaubing. Most of them returned after the end of the war, but their lives were never the same again.
The photographer documents the stories, memories and realities of the lives of contemporary witnesses and their families. The deportation of millions of people from all over Europe and their ruthless exploitation was one of the great crimes of the Nazi state. This benefited not only the German war economy, but also public administration and almost all sections of the German population. Millions of people from the Soviet Union were used as forced labour in Nazi Germany, among them men, women and children. They were treated as second-class citizens, and those who survived were repatriated after 1945 and accused of being traitors to their own country.
For a long time, the topic was taboo; something that was kept quiet. They were among the forgotten victims of National Socialism until a debate on compensation payments began in 2001.
The work was created as part of the online exhibition “Departure Neuaubing. European Stories of Forced Labor” of the NS Documentation Center Munich.
Sima Dehgani was born in 1985 in Munich. She lives in Munich and works internationally.
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