Finding Ivy: a life worthy of life

Finding ivy header

Description

Finding ivy panel

 

From 1940 to 1941 around 70,000 adults with mental and physical disabilities living in institutions across Germany and Austria were systematically killed under a Nazi state-led programme called Aktion T4. The victims were deemed to have ‘life unworthy of life’.

The ‘Finding Ivy– A Life Worthy of Life’ research project reconstructs the fascinating lives of these people, as well as telling the story of the killing programme in which they were caught up, and its aftermath.  Most of them were from the families of German and Austrian immigrants who moved to Britain to work in the early twentieth century before fatefully returning to Germany before the Second World War. Others were from mixed marriages between British and German or Austrian nationals.

The project draws attention to parallel thinking in terms of the perceived societal value of people with disabilities then and now, and how eugenic undertones still pervade contemporary thinking about this group.

Impact

Map of nazi death camps

 

The Finding Ivy Exhibition

The exhibition is touring internationally and can be seen in the following venues across England, Scotland, Wales, Germany and Austria:

  1. Lern und Gedenkort, Schloss Hartheim

January 27th- March 31st 2024

  1. London Metropolitan Archives

7 April-15th April 2024

  1. Citylit

22nd April-29th April 2024

  1. University of Bradford

5th June-21st June 2024

  1. German Historical Institute

1st August-6th September 2024

  1. Lotherton Hall

29th July-29th August 2024

  1. St Mary’s Church, Beverley

5th September-29th September 2024

  1. Birmingham City University

1st October-31st October 2024

  1. University of Salzburg

21st October-8th November 2024

  1. Holocaust Centre North

1st October-31st October 2024

  1. Coventry University

1st November-30th November 2024

  1. University of Northampton

1st December-1st January 2025

  1. Surrey Archives

1st January-31st January 2025

  1. Biggin Hill Memorial Museum

1st January-31st January 2025

  1. Hildesheim, Germany

January-February 2025

  1. Telgte, Germany

13th March-13 April 2025

  1. Kingston University

1st February-17th February 2025

  1. University of Swansea

18th February-11April 2025

  1. University of Leeds

March 2025

  1. University of South Wales

13th April-30th June

  1. Edinburgh Napier

May (TBC)

  1. Lancashire Archives

1st June-30th June

 

Publications and outputs

Royal College of Nursing Institute article

https://journals.rcni.com/learning-disability-practice/evidence-and-practice/finding-ivy-a-life-worthy-of-life-learning-from-the-stories-of-victims-of-the-nazis-aktion-t4-killing-programme-ldp.2024.e2253/abs

Finding ivy panel 2

Project website

https://www.schloss-hartheim.at/en/memorial-exhibition/traveling-exhibitions/exhibition-finding-ivy