Letters for Remembrance

We would like to give something back and counter the horror with some joy. We are regularly touched by the letters from children and young people to the survivors. We would like to collect them in a living, constantly growing memorial for the Holocaust remembrance.

Compassion, hope and encouragement

In 2014, an analysis of 56 letters confirmed that our work does indeed generate compassion, hope and encouragement to act with tolerance. The children express their compassion in their letters. It is all the more powerful because we have not set any guidelines for writing the letters.

Our goal: We want to publish 100,000 letters. So far, 16,000 letters have been written. We invite anyone who is moved by the survivors' stories to write a letter and become part of our mission.

If you don't know what you want or are allowed to write in your email or letter, we can reassure you straight away: Just write exactly what you think!

You can send your letter to us as a text in an email or scanned as an attachment to the email (briefe@zweitzeugen.de) or send your letter by post to ZWEITZEUGEN e.V., Postfach 1880, 32218 Bünde, Germany.

Some hints

Please do not put the letter in an extra envelope. We look at the letters to protect the survivors from inappropriate or offensive wording. Please also understand that the survivors cannot answer every letter they receive.

Please pay attention to the following

  • What you can write

    Children usually still feel completely free about this task and simply write: "Cool that you survived", or "Thank you for your story." Perhaps it will help you to write down such simple thoughts. We do not forward letters containing insults. When children and young people write letters to the survivors at the end of our educational projects, the following questions often help: "What touched you most about the story?", "What would you like to pass on to the eyewitness?"

  • Who are you?

    For the survivors, it is of course interesting to know how you heard about their story and where you come from. Sometimes the survivors are also interested in how old you are.

  • How to address?

    You can address the survivor in different ways. Children are also very free here and we are happy for you to write the letter the way you feel comfortable. Address him/her by surname or first name.

  • Length of letter

    No matter how long your letter is, whether three lines or three pages, it will be wonderful and the survivor will be happy about every reaction!