Ostgebiete / Ziemie Zachodnie – German-Polish Perspectives
PROJECT ExhibitionDESIGN Concept, Exhibition Architecture and Design, Communication MaterialsCLIENT Documentation Centre For Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation

To mark the 35th anniversary of the German Polish Neighbourhood Treaty, the photography exhibition “Ostgebiete / Ziemie Zachodnie” brings together renowned photographers from both countries in a visual dialogue on memory, identity and transformation.
The focus is on German-Polish perspectives on a shared space of memory in Poland. For many Germans, the former eastern territories of the German Reich are associated with flight and expulsion, with memories of the loss of their homeland and the enduring legacy of these profound experiences in countless family histories. They form part of a collective memory that continues to shape identities in this country to this day. From a Polish perspective, the Ziemie Zachodnie – the Western Territories after 1945 – mean something different: the new arrivals had themselves often been driven out of the East and carried with them the experience of the German occupation. It was about arriving in a foreign land, a difficult new beginning, and a region shaped by the Germans that only gradually became a home. The perspectives are fundamentally different, yet inextricably intertwined.
The artistic works of ten photographers from both countries show how traces of a process – one that remains visible and palpable to this day and is characterised by appropriation and farewell – have become inscribed in the landscapes, architecture and family narratives on both sides of the River Oder.

Featuring works by: Karolina Gembara, Annette Hauschild, Thomas Meyer, Katarzyna Mirczak, Filip Piotrowicz, Natalia Poniatowska, Linn Schröder, Ina Schoenenburg, Wojtek Sienkiewicz, Heinrich Völkel