When Etienne Bauduin, Belgium, was still alive, he came to Kahla every year for the commemorations. We knew each other very well.
In 1944 he and his brother Andre were arrested in Dottignies/Belgium and were taken to Kahla, to the Lager E camp near Eichenberg. Both had to work in the tunnels of the Walpersberg. When Andre fell ill, Etienne cared for him. Andre died in March 1945.
Since our association has been intensively maintaining its worldwide, long-standing contacts and friendships since 2002, we also stayed in touch with Etienne and Andre’s family. We were contacted by them because they wanted to realize their long-planned visit to Kahla on September 20th. We met with Dominique, Francis, Danièle and Pierre in the Kahla town museum to clearly explain the history of the factory to them. They knew very little about it, so it’s no surprise that we spent a lot of time here. We then drove to the Kahla cemetery, as there is the memorial stone for Andre, which his brother Etienne had placed.
We continued to the former Lager E near Eichenberg and, after long discussions, continued to Hummelshain to the Neues Schloss, the former “REIMAHG” hospital. We remembered the brothers everywhere and told the family everything they needed to know about them. To their great joy and surprise, we were able lto provide the family copies of our archive documents on both brothers.
We ended the day with dinner and table discussions in the “Rosengarten”. The food was just as fantastic as the whole sunny day, the family thanked us very much and it was difficult for everyone to say goodbye in the evening.
Unfortunately, the conversation at the table again turned to the fact that their request from Großeutersdorf had not been responded to, or had only been responded to after several days, and that they had been denied access to the memorial plaques on Walpersberg because they had contacted our association. They are sympathizers. Selective commemoration, very unfortunate!
