The Verein KZ-Gedenk- und Dokumentationsstätte Porta Westfalica e.V. (Association for concentration camp memorial and documentation sites) is currently using this title for its project on the external concentration camp and the forced labour at Porta Westfalica towards the end of the Second World War. The temporary exhibition facility made of shipping containers will be located in Barkhausen opposite the former Hotel Kaiserhof. Apart from providing comprehensive information, it will also serve as a memorial site. The exhibition is primarily oriented to conveying the biographies of former prisoners from the three external concentration camps.

Apart from the four-part container facility, clearly visible information panels are planned in the exterior grounds of the site, which make an important part of the exhibition’s content accessible to visitors even outside the exhibition’s opening hours. In addition to image and text information on different key subjects, they also provide more detailed access to online documentation.

Apart from these panels to be erected on the exhibition site, the “Paths of Remembrance”, which have existed since 2014, are to receive an update. The circular path system to the visible traces of the camp and the forced labour on the current municipal area of Porta Westfalica is being expanded into a “Remembrance Network” and marked with additional information panels in the exhibition design.

The exhibition project is sponsored by the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia. Generally an own contribution must be provided in order to qualify for receiving public funding for such a project. The great commitment of the volunteers of the KZ-Gedenk- und Dokumentationsstätte has already achieved a great deal; but for the complete realisation of the project, the association relies on financing through sponsors. We therefore ask you to support us.

“Not wanting to know is unconditional capitulation.” This quotation from the former concentration camp prisoner Pierre Bleton, who was interned in Barkhausen, is an admonition and a mission for the association’s initiative. Please consider a donation to support the extraordinary and exemplary exhibition “No light at the end of the tunnel”. The naming of all supporters, with or without logo, is envisaged on an appropriate plaque at the exhibition site, and the panels in the “Remembrance Network” can also be labelled accordingly, upon request.