Students of Class 1B Mechanics at the specialised educational institution EREA (établissement d’enseignement adapté) Henri Ebel in Illkirch-Grafenstaden, under the guidance of Madame Mougenot and dedicated teacher Stéphane Pir, are delving into the fates of the “Malgré-Nous.”
Stéphane Pir maintains relationships with eyewitnesses, now approaching 100 years of age, who reside in care homes. These individuals have shared their life stories with him and the students and provided valuable materials for their research.
“It’s impossible to imagine what this back-and-forth between countries must have been like,” one student remarked at the start of the storyboard workshop. This particular student enjoys drawing but struggles with writing. Others in the group speak very little French, and Sandra Butsch takes great care to support each individual. One boy from Afghanistan took a long time to reflect and wanted to ask the eyewitness why, after enduring the horrors of war and his experiences, he had chosen to have only one child. Each student embarks on their own journey of discovery. A boy with developmental delays expressed a desire to learn more about life on the front line: “What does it feel like to be forcibly conscripted by the Germans, sent to the front, but unable to speak their language?” Another student, diagnosed with autism, quietly sketched away.
“I am deeply impressed by the students,” said Sandra Butsch. The atmosphere is incredibly focused, yet it feels markedly different from other classrooms. “It seems as though no one here is just ‘doing their job.’ The students take everything seriously. Even the act of drawing itself holds meaning and occupies an important space, though we regularly have to bring the discussion back to the topic at hand,” she observed.
When Monsieur Prince, the eyewitness, was the same age as the students are now, he was already working in a factory. Born in 1925, he never attended a German school in Alsace and did not speak German, even when he was conscripted into the German military during the war. His father, on the other hand, had fought on the German side during the First World War. Such is the complexity of history.
Monsieur Prince was conscripted for the dangerous task of clearing mines along the pre-war border between Germany and Poland. His knee was severely injured, yet he was expected to continue working. Fortunately, he encountered a doctor who had spent 17 years working in France and who helped him obtain permission to travel to Strasbourg for recovery. Once there, Prince went into hiding, returning to his parents’ home, where his father concealed him in the hayloft until the war ended.
Not everyone was so fortunate. Far from it.
It is estimated that of the 130,000 Alsatians conscripted into the German military, 32,000 were killed, 10,500 went missing, and 32,000 were wounded. Alsatians were used as “cannon fodder” for a foreign cause, including the grandfather of Igor Futterer.
