Neslyšené hlasy pronásledovaných
Unheard Voices of the Persecuted

Summary/Abstract: Marginalized, stigmatized, and largely forgotten for decades, individuals labeled by the Nazi regime as “asocials” or “professional criminals” experienced systematic persecution that remained absent from public memory long after the Second World War. The stories of Luise Bauder and Josef Krautmann illustrate how poverty, social vulnerability, illness, and previous convictions became grounds for surveillance, exclusion, and ultimately deportation to concentration camps. Through the coordinated actions of welfare offices, health authorities, labor agencies, and police institutions, both were classified as threats to the Nazi vision of society and subjected to preventive detention. Krautmann died after years of forced labor in Flossenbürg, while Bauder survived imprisonment in Ravensbrück and Auschwitz-Birkenau but continued to face discrimination and neglect after the war. Their experiences were shared by tens of thousands of people who were imprisoned, sterilized, exploited, or murdered under similar classifications. Despite their suffering, these victims received little recognition or compensation, and their stories remained overshadowed in Germany’s and Austria’s collective memory. Official recognition by the German Bundestag as victims of National Socialism came only in 2020, marking an important step toward historical justice. The article also highlights ongoing efforts by historians, memorial institutions, and descendants to recover these neglected histories and challenge enduring social stigmas. A key contribution to this process is the traveling exhibition The Denied: Victims of National Socialism 1933–1945–Today, which brings personal experiences of exclusion and persecution into public view. Together, these narratives underscore the importance of remembrance, recognition, and confronting the long-term consequences of social marginalization.

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