Film viewing with discussion

Geliebt und Geächtet – Kinder des Krieges.

Further information:

Dates of viewing and discussions (further will follow): Trailer and information here: https://www.gfbv.de/de/kinderdeskrieges/

- 6. August 2019, 17:30 Uhr, Schulenburger Landstr. 150 in Hannover. Anschließende Diskussion mit: Hatab Omar, Vorsitzender der Ezidischen Akademie

- 8. August 2019, 19:00 Uhr, Victor-Gollancz-Haus der GfbV, Geiststr. 7 in Göttingen. Anschließende Diskussion mit: Mirza Dinnayi, yezidischer Menschenrechtsaktivist, und Ilyas Isa, Vorstand des Zentrums der Eziden Göttingen e.V.

- 15. August 2019, 18:00 Uhr, Yezidisches Forum e.V., Eidechsenstr. 19 in Oldenburg. Anschließende Diskussion mit: Ilyas Yanc, Yezidisches Forum Oldenburg und Flüchtlingsberater bei IBIS e.V.

- 5. September 2019, 18:00 Uhr, Evangelischer Kirchenkreis Bielefeld, Markgrafenstr. 7 in Bielefeld. Anschließende Diskussion mit: Prof. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan, deutsch-yezidischer Psychologe und Dr. Monika Hauser, Gynäkologin und Gründerin der Frauenrechtsorganisation medica mondiale

Oslo Conference: “Ending Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Humanitarian Crises”

May 23-24 May 2019 the international conference “Ending Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Humanitarian Crises” took place in Oslo, Norway. The conference was hosted by Norway, Iraq, Somalia, United Arab Emirates, UN OCHA, UNFPA, ICRC and other partners. INIRC-CBOW founder Ingvill C. Mochmann was invited to give an overview on major topics and stat-of-the art knowledge on children born of war at the session “Forced motherhood and children born of war”.  

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New Book: "DER ZWEITE WELTKRIEG IST UNSERE WIEGE"

The World War II is our cradle – An East Belgian  story with testimonies of Wehrmacht-and GI-children of war]

“For years the subject such as the confrontation with extramarital motherhood in times of war has been repressed or concealed. Gerlinda Swillen, a convinced feminist, puts that aspect of the courage of life of women in the spotlight. An exceptional achievement of the author is that she focusses on the children born out of such relations. Recent and current wars demonstrate that the theme of the writer not only concerns dealing with the past.” - Els Herrebout, chief archivist of the State Archives in Eupen

Without wars and conflicts it would not exist: the forgotten generation of children of war, often called children of the occupation. Children born out of relations of native women with soldiers – German Wehrmachtsoldiers and as of 1944 GI-soldiers.

The existence of children of war and the unresolved suffering of this generation has for many years been declared taboo and concealed. The treatment of the mothers was often harsh. The atrocious images of women having to run the gauntlet amidst a howling crowd because they had an erotic relation with the enemy point this out.

Gerlinda Swillen poignantly describes the history of countless children of war and how their begetters met each other, which were the problems they encountered and how their life turned out. She sheds light on the problems of children of war – growing up with one of the parents missing – and the wish of that generation to obtain international statute.

An appeal of hope about a concealed, forgotten generation!

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Gerlinda Swillen graduated in 2016 from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) with the doctoral thesis: Begotten by World War II – Children of War on the Axis Brussels – Berlin, Prelude – Birth – Reception (The Cradle of World War II – Children of War on the Axis Brussels – Berlin, Brussels, VUPPress, 2016). She published the first book about children of war in Belgium; Cuckoo in the Nest. Begotten by the Enemy [1940-1945], Antwerp/Amsterdam, 2009 (own translation in French: La valise oubliée. Enfants de guerre (1940-1945), Brussels, 2018).

The author is research assistant at the VUB and associate researcher at the General State Archive CEGESOMA. She let numerous children of war talk. Being herself a child of war, she knows what she writes about. Her begetter was a Wehrmachtsoldier and her mother a Belgian kindergarten teacher. In 2010 Gerlinda Swillen as first Belgian war child obtained the German nationality.

Preorder the book here.