From September 30, 2025, an exhibition on the topic of "Homeless people under National Socialism" will be on display in the C building (foyer in front of the library) of our university. This is a traveling exhibition that the Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Wohnungslosenhilfe e. V. (Federal Association for Assistance to the Homeless) from Berlin has been lending to institutions and individuals throughout Germany since 2004. The 13 exhibition posters focus on various aspects of the topic "Homeless people under National Socialism".
The idea was born out of the study focus "Social Work and Poverty" by the student Alexander Wilking, who also supervises the exhibition as a student assistant together with Prof. Dr. Andreas Rein (one of the two focus leaders).
The exhibition will open on September 30, 2025, 6 p.m., with a lecture by Alfons Ims in the auditorium (C building) on the topic of "The life of the Ims family in the Palatinate" . The Ims family lived in great poverty in various slums in the city of Kaiserlautern. During National Socialism, the family was persecuted and torn apart as an "asocial extended family". After the lecture, there will be an opportunity to visit the exhibition.
In a further lecture on 7 October 2025 , Prof. Dr. Thomas Wagner from the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences will speak on the topic of "The colony of asocial tenants" .This will focus on the history of Ludwigshafen's oldest emergency housing area, the "Bruchwiesenviertel", which existed between the mid-1920s and 1970s. The lecture will focus in particular on developments during the National Socialist era. This lecture will also begin at 6 p.m. and will take place in the auditorium.
The small series of events will conclude with a lecture by Merle Stöver, doctoral student at the Institute for Conflict and Violence Research at Bielefeld University, on the topic of "Social Darwinist conditions. Deadly violence against homeless people". The lecture will take place on October 20, 2025 at 7 p.m. In 2024 alone, around 20 homeless people died as a result of violence in Germany. The lecture will shed light on the experiences of violence by homeless people on the one hand and discuss the motives and motivations of social Darwinist violence on the other.
The exhibition ends on October 21, 2025.
