In the introduction Boltanski writes: 'Now fifty year have passed, and when I look at the faces of these lost children I find myself trying to imagine what has become of them. They have become part of the post-war history of Germany with all its changes. Has fate brought them happy or unhappy lives, made them rich or poor? I should like to find them again. They are about my own age, and their history is similar in some ways to mine, to ours. We too are in search of our parents.'
This publication accompanied an exhibition with the same title in the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 28 November 1993 - 28 January 1994
Added one original photograph by Martien Coppens, showing a poster 'Diese Kinder suchen ihre Eltern' for the German Red Cross, district Hamburg.