Hidden History: Exhibition about Lebensborn and Nazi euthanasia

Hidden History: Exhibition about Lebensborn and Nazi euthanasia

On Friday, March 7, 2025, the new exhibition “On the edge of the Vienna Woods. The Lebensborn in Feichtenbach” will open in the Hartheim Castle learning and memorial site. This exhibition is complemented by a lecture, a video presentation and a panel discussion on the documentary dance theater “Prélude:LEBENSBORN”. It highlights the connection between the “Lebensborn” home in Feichtenbach and the Nazi killing center in Hartheim, both of which were part of the racist population policy of National Socialism OTS reported.

The “Lebensborn” project aimed, among other things, at preventing unwanted pregnancies among unmarried women, with only women who conformed to Nazi ideas being accepted. In stark contrast, from 1940 onwards, Hartheim Castle was one of six killing centers of “Aktion T4”, in which around 30,000 people were murdered by 1944, including people with disabilities and mental illnesses, concentration camp prisoners and forced laborers. The exhibition will shed light on the stories of this time and focus on the biographies of the murdered children.

Opening times and information

The exhibition will be on display in the castle's Sala terrena from March 8 to April 21, 2025. The organizers, including the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for War Impact Research and the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz, invite you to reflect on the connections between “Lebensborn” and Nazi euthanasia. A supplementary audio installation and a video installation by Mag. Marlene Müller-Wanzenböck will bring the topics to life, as on the Website of the learning and memorial site shown.