This post was automatically translated from the German original at
NGHM-Tracker (12/25).
The monthly newsletter of the Research Group for Contemporary History and Historical Migration Research at the University of Osnabrück
By Benjamin Look & Jessica Wehner
In November, Team NGHM was able to welcome several guests to our professorship to exchange ideas about our scientific methods and projects. On the other hand, fieldwork – including training courses and excursions – was also on the programme.
Our November newsletter reports on the diverse activities of the team.
Insights
There were some exciting activities at our institute in Osnabrück: Imke Selle, Marlene Schurig, Tim Ott, Johannes Pufahl and Annika Heyen tried to inspire prospective students for the VR projects of the Professorship for Contemporary History and Historical Migration Research at this year’s Higher Education Information Day on 20 November. While colleagues from the History Department provided information about studying history at an information stand, students were able to experience the 360° tour “Deadly Forced Labour in Karya“, the student-created Lehrzeit exhibition “The Monument in Motion” as well as the VR application of the SFB-1604 transfer project created in collaboration with the Documentation Centre and Museum on Migration in Germany (DOMiD) on the stage of the Castle Auditorium. At the same time, Tim Ott and Marlene Schurig showed interested visitors how they could create digital 3D models of objects and even of their fellow human beings using their own digital devices; a technique that was also used in creating the VR applications.
On 24 November, Christoph Rass and Annika Heyen were able to welcome Esteban Durán-Delgado from the Costa Rica Centre of the University of Osnabrück as well as Alice Brenes-Maykall from the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica for a discussion about the transfer project “Reflexive Migration Research in the Museum” of the Collaborative Research Centre 1604 “Production of Migration“. As Vicerrectoría de Extensión, Brenes-Maykall is also responsible for interaction between the university and non-university actors, a topic that is also of great importance for the transfer project. The discussion about the transfer project addressed, among other things, how marginalised narratives can be made more visible and audible, and what role technical tools – such as Virtual Reality – on the one hand and art on the other play in this process.
On 10 November 2025, Imke Selle, Lukas Hennies, Tim Ott and Johannes Pufahl conducted a practical workshop on 3D digitisation of small objects together with Henning Wellmann, an employee in the education department of the Arolsen Archives. The objects – two keys, a cockade and a ring – are the personal effects of a Dutch policeman who was deported to forced labour in Neuengamme concentration camp in 1944 for refusing to serve. The “digital twins” of the objects created using photogrammetry are to be used in the education sector on a new online platform of the Arolsen Archives.
Team NGHM not only worked on site, but also embarked on various trips:
On 7 November, our student assistants Marlene Schurig, Lea Horstmann, Johannes Pufahl and Frank Wobig completed a practical course to qualify as metal detectorists in collaboration with the City and District Archaeology Osnabrück and the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation. Under the guidance of prospection technician Stephan Zeisler from the “Museum and Park Kalkriese“, knowledge of search strategies was imparted and identification exercises were carried out before going out into a field with metal detectors to search for artefacts from history. Our assistants found, among other things, coins and buttons, some of which could be dated back to the early modern period. With the now trained metal detectorists, the Conflict Landscapes Working Group of the Professorship for Contemporary History and Historical Migration Research (NGHM) is expanding its portfolio for future interdisciplinary fieldwork.
On 27 and 28 November, participants of an international workshop at the Northeast Institute (IKGN) in Lüneburg, organised by PD Dr. Kirsten Bönker (Northeast Institute at the University of Hamburg) and Dr. Maria Rhode (University of Göttingen), dealt with research desiderata and knowledge transfer on the topics of Nazi forced labour and Displaced Persons in the British occupation zone. Sebastian Huhn presented the case of the largest “old people’s home” for Displaced Persons at the workshop, which the British Control Commission for Germany and the IRO opened in 1950 in the Frisian town of Varel, which was transferred to German responsibility in mid-1950 and which provided a home for up to 1,000 elderly Displaced Persons until its closure at the end of 1959. Using this case, he spoke about research desiderata on the topic of Displaced Persons, which can make an important contribution to understanding the transition period from war to post-war or National Socialism to democracy and, not least, help to better understand the condition of the German population at that time.
On 28 November, an excursion to the Esterwegen Memorial took place under the leadership of Imke Selle and with support from Ilka Schwerdtfeger. The Esterwegen Memorial documents the history of the so-called Emsland camps at the site of the former Esterwegen concentration and penal camp.
Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi state maintained a complex of 15 concentration, penal and prisoner-of-war camps in the Emsland and in the County of Bentheim, which as part of the system of SS, judiciary and Wehrmacht were sites of National Socialist terror. About 80,000 concentration camp prisoners and convicts suffered in the camps. During the war, far more than 100,000 prisoners of war were added. More than 20,000 people from various European countries died in these camps.
During the excursion, students gained insights into the establishment of the Esterwegen Memorial as well as the history of the “Emsland camps” and received a guided tour of the former camp site. A detailed report will be available shortly on our NGHM blog.
History@SFB1604
On 18 December, Maik Hoops visited the joint colloquium of the Chairs for Historical Educational Research and Modern and Contemporary History under the direction of Prof. Till Kössler and PD Dr. Nina Verheyen at the University of Cologne. There he presented his dissertation project “‘Gastarbeiterkinder’ – ‘Ausländerkinder’ – ‘Migrantenkinder’. A Historical Semantics of the Production of Figures of Migrantised Others in Educational Science Discourse (From the 1960s to the 2000s)”. From the colloquium participants, who are familiar with education as a historical subject of investigation, he received valuable suggestions and fruitful criticism for his project. Ahmet Celikten, who was also invited to Cologne, unfortunately had to cancel his participation due to illness.
The exchange had been initiated by Max Schellbach, whom Ahmet Celikten and Maik Hoops had met at a conference. He will visit the NGHM colloquium in Osnabrück in January and present his dissertation project “Leisure as a Problem. Migrant Youth and the Transformation of Urban Youth Work in German-British Comparison (1970-1990)”.
Notes
Already at the beginning of May, the Chair for Contemporary History and Historical Migration Research, together with the entire University of Osnabrück, switched its online presence to a new website, which we continue to expand and develop.
In November, Team NGHM supplemented the section Studies & Teaching/ NGHM DH Workshop with additional guidance and offerings:
- WebApp Workshop
- Digital Humanities | Digital History
- Digital History | NGHM
- AI and Critical Thinking | A Pessimistic View
- AI and Historical Studies | An Optimistic View
- AI and Historical Practice | Future
Blog Posts in October
- Jessica Wehner and Benjamin Look: NGHM-Tracker (11/25), 04 November 2025.
- Team NGHM: Inside.NGHM | Annika Heyen, 07 November 2025.
- Team NGHM: NGHM asks | Where can memorial sites for Displaced Persons actually be found in Germany? 21 November 2025.
Outlook & Current Events
On 2 December 2025, 6:00 PM, Prof. Dr. Christoph Rass will speak at the FernUniversität Hagen in the research colloquium of the Historical Seminar as a guest of Prof. Dr. Felix Ackermann on “The Co-Presence of Violence: Conflict Landscapes from Occupation, War of Extermination and Holocaust in Belarus (1941-1944)”. The lecture presents research results of the interdisciplinary working group Conflict Landscapes on sites of German occupation in Belarus as well as a case study on Holocaust and forced labour from Greece (Location: FernUniversität Hagen, Universitätsstraße 33, Building 2, Room 6)
On 3 December 2025, Prof. Dr. Christoph Rass is a guest at a roundtable discussion with Barbara Hanke (History Didactics), Christiane Kunst (Ancient History), Christoph Mauntel (Medieval History) and Siegrid Westphal (Early Modern History) on the question “What is History For? On the Social Relevance of Historical Studies”. The discussion takes place within the framework of the “Forum HistOS – More than just History/Stories” of the Historical Seminar. Interested parties are cordially invited! The event takes place on 3 December from 6 to 8 PM in Building 15 Room 130.
Also on 3 December 2025, the University of Osnabrück will host its first Day of Teaching, where various LehrZeit project groups will present their innovative approaches to the further development of studies and teaching. As part of the World Café in the afternoon, Prof. Dr. Christoph Rass and Imke Selle will present the results of the LehrZeit project “Research, Communicate, Exhibit. Virtual Learning Spaces in Historical Studies” from the 2022/23 funding round.
The project developed and tested interdisciplinary teaching-learning formats in which students of history and computer science jointly conceived a VR-based exhibition. Using 3D scanning and VR technologies, historical monuments were digitally reconstructed, contextualised and made experiential in a hybrid exhibition.
Visitors can explore the VR exhibition themselves at our stand and thus gain insight into the students’ work.
From 1 January 2026, the Tracker editorial team will take a short winter break and return on 1 February with a December-January double issue. We wish all our readers a restful break!