»STUS« – Eröffnung der Ausstellung über den ukrainischen Dichter und Freiheitskämpfer Vasyl Stus

In the organizer's words:

EXHIBITION OPENING

September 04, 7 p.m. - personal registration in advance is mandatory!

"Registration link " here

The exhibition will be opened in the presence of Vasyl Stus' son Dmytro Stus and René Böll. His father, the writer and Nobel Prize winner Heinrich Böll, had a special connection to Vasyl Stus and supported persecuted artists and intellectuals throughout his life. Dr. Dmytro Stus, literary scholar and director of the Taras Shevchenko Museum in Kyiv, is the editor of several editions of his father's works and co-author of the anthology "Ukrainian Dissidents".

Duration of the exhibition: September 05, 2025 to February 27, 2026

"Behind me is Ukraine, my oppressed people ,
whose honor I defend or perish."

This is what the Ukrainian poet and freedom fighter Vasyl Stus wrote in his notes from the Soviet penal camp "Perm-36" (1983). His resistance to the Russification policy controlled from Moscow, his tireless commitment to the Ukrainian language and literature, his translations of German and Polish poetry into Ukrainian and his fight for political freedom and respect for human rights landed Stus in the gulag several times. He was also subjected to a variety of repressions between prison terms, which began during his student days in Kyiv. In 1980, he was arrested again and sentenced to ten years in a "camp with special execution" for "anti-Soviet propaganda and agitation". In 1985, the 47-year-old died in the notorious "Perm-36" penal camp, which was specially designed to isolate political prisoners.

The first international exhibition about Stus is not only a tribute to his fight for a free Ukraine and its independent language and culture. It also makes an important contribution to European collective memory - on the one hand to the spirit of resistance against oppression, violence and arbitrariness, and on the other to the defense of individual freedom and cultural identity. In view of the ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, whose independence Stus and others had dreamed of and prepared, nothing could be more topical.

Heinrich Böll (1917-1985), one of the few people in West Germany who was aware of the existence of the Ukrainian opposition and opposed its oppression by the Soviet regime, actively campaigned for Stus' release at the time and nominated him for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Even today, the exemplary fate of Vasyl Stus and his enduring significance for Ukrainian identity are still far too little known, especially in Germany. The exhibition curated by Eva Yakubovska (Pilecki Institute Berlin) focuses on Stus' artistic development and his poetic work as well as his sovereign attitude towards the Soviet regime and his courageous and tireless fight for human rights. With his life's work, Stus is today also a figure of identification for the resistance against imperial Russian aggression.

The exhibition was conceived by the Instytut Pileckiego/Pilecki Institute Berlin ("https://berlin.instytutpileckiego.pl/de) as part of a collaboration with the Stus Center ("https://stus.center) and the Heinrich Böll Foundation ("www.boell.de/de). Following a highly acclaimed initial presentation at the Pilecki Institute in Berlin (cf.e.g."www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/kunst-und-architektur/berliner-ausstellung-zum-ukrainischen-dichter-und-dissidenten-wassyl-stus-110091405.html), it is now being shown at the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Haus in Düsseldorf. Further cooperation partners are: Lew Kopelew Forum, Polnisches Insitut Düsseldorf and the Verein zur Förderung der Städtepartnerschaft Düsseldorf Czernowitz e.V.

ACCOMPANYING PROGRAM

As part of the exhibition on Vasyl Stus and the "Ukraine is here" series of events, visitors can look forward to a varied accompanying program of concerts, performances and readings. In addition to the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Haus, other cultural venues in Düsseldorf will also be involved in the program.