“I didn’t dare to ask.” – Interview with Christian Pfeil, a contemporary witness

The Pfeil family was from Trier. In 1940, the Nazis deported them from their hometown to occupied Poland. Christian Pfeil was born (presumably) in January 1944 in the Lublin ghetto. His parents and siblings were forced to perform hard labor in concentration camps. After their liberation in 1945, they returned to Germany with the baby. During his childhood, Pfeil experienced exclusion and hostility. At the age of 26, he opened a bar in Trier, performed successfully as a musician, and achieved local fame. In the 1990s, right-wing extremists threatened him because of his anti-fascist activism.

In 2015, Christian Pfeil began to come to terms with his family’s traumatic history and speak publicly about it, including before the European Parliament and the United Nations. It is important to him to raise public awareness of the lasting repercussions of the persecution of the Sinti and Roma, which continue to this day. For several years now, his nephew Sacha Höhn has been supporting him in his advocacy work.

PROGRAM

Welcome

Uwe Neumärker, Director of the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Discussion
Christian Pfeil and Sacha Höhn with Jana Mechelhoff-Herezi



Please register by October 5, 2026, at or by phone at 030-26 39 43-0.

Please note that there will be a security check at the entrance.

By attending the event, you agree that photographs and video recordings taken there may be published.

The conversation with Christian Pfeil is an event organized by the Denkmal Foundation, supported by the Berlin-Marzahn Forced Labor Camp Memorial, the Hildegard Lagrenne Foundation (HLS), and the RomaTrial Association.Translated with DeepL

Next date:

• Date Tuesday, 06/October/2026 18:00 bis 19:30
• Venue Denkmal für die ermorderdeten Juden Europas - Ort der Information
• Address Cora-Berliner-Straße 1, 10117 Berlin-Mitte