AUSSTELLUNG: Verlorene Dörfer in Masuren. Eine deutsch-polnische Wanderausstellung in der Zentralbibliothek in Mönchengladbach

In the organizer's words:

Exhibition venue: Central Library Carl Brandts-Haus, Hilde-Sherman-Zander-Straße 6, 41061 Mönchengladbach

Duration: 21.05. to 26.06.

Between 2017 and 2019, students of history at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and students of landscape architecture at the Warmian-Masurian University in Olsztyn/Allenstein carried out a project under the direction of Dr. Sabine Grabowski to preserve the common Masurian cultural heritage. They dealt with the history of the border region of Masuria, which today lies in north-eastern Poland and was part of the province of East Prussia in the German Reich until 1945. Only a few traces of the villages that once lay on the German-Polish border and were destroyed as a result of the Second World War can be found today. Only the cemeteries remain. The exhibition documents the joint work of the students in the search for remains, the inventory and the documentation of over 500 years of settlement history of the Masurian villages.

Opening of the exhibition
May 21, 7 p.m. (UNESCO World Day for Cultural Diversity)

The exhibition will be officially opened on the plaza of the Carl Brandts Haus Central Library (Hilde-Sherman-Zander-Straße 6, 41061 Mönchengladbach) - with words of welcome from Lord Mayor Felix Heinrichs.

Afterwards, the library will host a discussion in the WandelSaal: Prof. Dr. Christoph Nonn (HHU) and Dr. Sabine Grabowski (GHH) will talk about the project, student research and the social structures of the Masurian population through the ages.

Moderation: Yilmaz Holtz-Ersahin (Head of the Library & Archive Department, City of Mönchengladbach).

A joint event of the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Haus Foundation and the Mönchengladbach City Library