Ostarbeiters Podcast

Alena Beliakova (illustrations)
Photo source / author: Alena Beliakova (illustrations)

Project objectives

Unfolding the history of forced labor of the Soviet citizens in Nazi Germany for a wider audience.

Project description

The Ostarbeiters documentary podcast consists of excerpts from original interviews with former Eastern workers taken from the oral history archive "That Side". The podcast includes three main episodes, eight mini-releases and a lecture by the archive keeper on how these interviews were collected in 1990-2000.

The story of love and death in Nazi Germany, labor behind enemy lines, decades of discrimination and silence after returning to their homeland - told by witnesses and participants.

Project outcomes

The podcast was created in partnership with Radio Glagolev.FM and with financial support from the “Memory, Responsibility, Future” Foundation. 

  • Script and editing - Semyon Sheshenin
  • Music and mixing - Fyodor Balashov

The materials for the episodes were selected by the participants of the 2018 archival school practice: Alexandra Senkevich, Varvara Andreeva, Alexander Saprykin, Camilla Ragachurina, Alexey Evstratov, Ilya Ignatiev, Anna Zizova, Dasha Smyk, Ivan Podgorny, Anastasia Malakhova.

The podcast was awarded the "Enlightenment. Digital" Grand Prix as the best online educational project of 2019.

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