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On Displaying Violence: First Exhibitions on the Nazi Occupation in Europe, 1945-1948

An exhibition of the Deutsches Historisches Museum in cooperation with the Documentation Centre “German Occupation of Europe in the Second World War” (ZWBE)

Pei Building, Ground floor

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How did post-war societies process their experiences of violence and destruction caused by the Second World War and the concurrent occupation of large parts of Europe by National Socialist Germany? A previously overlooked but historically influential form of coming to terms with this desolation are the exhibitions that were organised in post-war Europe between 1945–1948 by institutions, groups, and individuals from diverse backgrounds. In these times of social hardship, political insecurity, enduring violence, and uncertain future, the exhibitions aimed to document and visualise the consequences of the Holocaust and the Nazi crimes.

For the first time, the Deutsches Historisches Museum presents the history of this pan-European phenomenon through early exhibitions in London, Paris, Warsaw, Liberec, and Bergen-Belsen. The focus is on the different forms and content with which the exhibition organisers – most of whom were victims of Nazi persecution and Holocaust survivors – addressed acts of violence, resistance, loss of cultural heritage, and identification of perpetrators. The different notions of the future that found expression in these exhibitions are also illustrated.

DHM President Raphael Gross on the exhibition

Curator Agata Pietrasik on the exhibition

Guided Tours

European event series

Facing Nazi Crimes: European Perspectives after 1945

from 13 May 2025

This European event series explores the social and historical contexts of the early exhibitions on Nazi crimes organised between 1945 and 1948. The series will unfold in the cities where these exhibitions were originally held – Paris, Warsaw, London, Liberec and Bergen-Belsen – and will conclude in Berlin.

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Film series

Testify and Tell. Early Pictures from Liberated Camps

16 May - 27 June 2025

Although film clips were rarely shown in the first exhibitions about the Nazi occupation of Europe, films showing the liberation of the concentration and extermination camps played an important role in the subsequent reckoning with the Holocaust.

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