International Sachsenhausen Committee
The International Sachsenhausen Committee (ISK) is an association of the former prisoners of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and its satellite camps. The prisoners are organized in regional associations / Amicales.
In 2006 the ISK included members from Belgium , Belarus , Denmark , Germany , France , Great Britain , Israel , Italy , Kazakhstan , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , Norway , Austria , Poland , Russia , the Czech Republic , Ukraine , Hungary and the USA .
The ISK has a presidium consisting of a president, general secretary, treasurer, vice-president and an audit committee. It organizes and coordinates the international work of the national prisoner representation of the former prisoners of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
According to the statutes, the vice-presidents are the chairman of the respective regional association or a representative appointed by the regional association. The ISK is registered as an association in Paris . After many years of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, it was founded on October 17, 1974 in Berlin. The country representatives from Belgium, GDR , FRG, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia were founding members . The 1st President and in office until 2001 was the French Charles Désirat . He was Honorary President from 2001 until his death in 2005. All regional associations / Amicales are self-sufficient . The ISK was presided over by Pierre Gouffault (France), survivor of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and the subcamp Klinkerwerk Oranienburg until his death on December 20, 2009 . Sonja Reichert (Luxembourg) has been Secretary General of the ISK since April 2008. On April 15, 2010, the Vice Presidents of the ISK elected Roger Bordage (Paris) as the new chairman of the International Committee. He died on August 5, 2017 after a serious illness at the age of 92.
Membership in the national associations / Amicales is based on the respective national statutes. For membership in the regional associations and the ISK, ideological, religious and other attitudes and actions, as well as the origin are irrelevant, as far as they match the tasks mentioned below.
The ISK has set itself the task of
- to ensure the historical preservation of the traces and memorials of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and its commandos;
- to carry on the memory of all those who have died;
- Defend the moral and material rights of survivors and victims' families.
The “Legacy of the Former Prisoners of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp”, signed on April 22, 2006, is programmatic for the work of the ISK.
See also
- Inmate associations elsewhere