45 FRAGMENTS dating back to the year 1945: 45 objects either somehow left or carefully preserved. They are the starting point for 45 stories. In the online exhibition FRAGMENTS ’45 – 360°, five memorials are using 45 objects to recount what happened in Brandenburg in 1945. The exhibition enables the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation to provide multi-faceted insights into a year of violence, liberations and disruptions in the region.
Ausstellung BRUCHSTÜCKE ´45, Benjamin Maltry 2021.
The exhibition
What do part of a map, a bomb splinter, prisoner’s clothing and a repurposed internal door have in common? Objects like these are FRAGMENTS from the year 1945. They were left or carefully preserved, and they all have stories to tell. With the help of those fragments, five memorials have curated the exhibition “FRAGMENTS ‘45” to give insights into a year of violence, liberations and disruptions in Brandenburg.
The year 1945 represents the transition from war to peace in Europe. It stands for a phase of decisive developments that begins already prior to 1945, continues long after and whose repercussions can still be felt today. The exhibition was originally designed to mark the 75th anniversary of liberation but could not be shown so far due to the pandemic. Thanks to funding from the federal “Neustart Kultur” programme of the Commissioner for Culture and the Media, it has now been possible to première the exhibition digitally. With the 360° online version of the exhibition, the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation provides multi-faceted insights into what happened in the region in this important year. The 45 FRAGMENTS make history tangible almost in a literal sense: The concrete objects and stories present the diverse, often concurrent and partly even contradictory experiences of different people to visitors. The main focus of the exhibition is on what happens to concentration camp inmates and prisoners in Brandenburg in 1945 and how those persecuted by the NS regime are experiencing this period. Their experiences are inextricably linked to the other events taking place in the region at the same time.
The analogue exhibition will present all 45 FRAGMENTS in the House of Brandenburg-Prussian History from 7 May 2021 onwards. Eventually, each of the five memorials will display nine FRAGMENTS in smaller exhibitions, taking the objects back to the region. An educational programme accompanying the exhibition primarily addresses a local audience, reaching beyond towns and cities into rural regions. More information on the analogue exhibition and the flanking educational programme can be found HERE:
As part of the anniversary, we are offering 60-minute guided tours of the 360° exhibition at the following times. Please register for the tour. You will then receive confirmation and important background information for taking part.
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