The #StolenMemory exhibition is attracting enormous interest as it tours Ukraine. Instead of the five venues originally planned, the exhibition is now scheduled to visit 17 locations by the end of the year. The decision to extend the tour comes despite the difficult conditions in the country, as Russia continues to launch heavy attacks on Ukraine. The traveling exhibition is being shown in a special roll-up and poster format with funding from the German Federal Foreign Office. It is focused on locating the families of Ukrainian victims of Nazi persecution whose personal effects are held by the Arolsen Archives. The search has already achieved positive results with one family already found.

“The response has been so overwhelming that the exhibition was extended at some of the previous venues due to high demand,” explains Anna Meier-Osinski, Outreach Manager for  Central and Eastern Europe at the Arolsen Archives. Most recently, the #StolenMemory exhibition was shown at the Khmelnytskyi Regional Museum, the ninth venue to host the exhibition since the beginning of the year. It opened there on May 11.

The exhibition was on display at two other locations at the same time: the Museum of Local History in Kamianske and Lyceum No. 1 in Zhashkiv. Exhibitions can be held simultaneously at more than one venue because several identical sets of the posters and roll-up displays are currently touring Ukraine. The traveling exhibition tour is being organized in cooperation with the NGO Kyiv Educational Center TolerSpace. Additional dates and stops have been scheduled for late summer and fall, bringing the total number of exhibition venues to nearly three times as many as originally planned.

Despite a successful kick-off in Lviv, the tour began under extremely difficult circumstances: The exhibition opening at the second stop on the tour, the Zabolotnyi State Library, scheduled for February 2, 2026, had to be canceled. Extensive damage caused by targeted Russian attacks on the energy infrastructure in Kyiv made it impossible to hold the exhibition at the time. “Perhaps when you live in a time of war that brings death, pain, and human suffering every day, you truly understand what the exhibition is really about,” said Natalia Svitla, the library’s director, when we interviewed her about her continued commitment to hosting the exhibition despite the difficult circumstances.

Six personal stories representing 70 victims of Nazi persecution

The poster exhibition has since been shown in Kyiv as well. It tells the stories of six Ukrainians who were persecuted by the Nazis, puts their stories in historical context, and displays photos of their personal effects – items that were taken away from them in concentration camps. These items have been stored at the Arolsen Archives since the 1960s. They include the belongings of 70 people from what is now Ukraine. Among them are family photos, jewelry, rings, wallets, and watches. The goal is to return these items to the descendants of their original owners. One example is a pocket watch that belonged to Volodymyr Zaplatynskyi , who was born in Stryj, where the exhibition was held in March.

Volodymyr was still a young man when the German occupying forces deported him to Hamburg as a forced laborer. Between December 1944 and February 1945, he was held in the Neuengamme concentration camp. It was there that his pocket watch was taken from him. Inside the watch is a photo collage made up of several portrait photos. Thanks to the exhibition, it can now be returned to his family. After learning of the existence of his personal effects through local press coverage, members of his family contacted the Arolsen Archives. “We were particularly thrilled. It was our first successful search in Ukraine in years!” commented Anna  Meier-Osinski, before going on to express her heartfelt thanks to everyone who supports #StolenMemory in Ukraine and has helped make the project possible.

#StolenMemory traveling exhibition

Since 2020, #StolenMemory has been using a traveling exhibition housed in shipping containers to raise awareness of the search for families throughout Europe. Because the war has made it impossible for a container to go on tour in Ukraine, the Arolsen Archives and their Ukrainian project partner, the NGO TolerSpace, decided to develop a poster exhibition instead. It tells the stories of six Ukrainians and their personal effects. The exhibition is being funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and has been touring Ukraine since early 2026. The aim is to return the personal belongings of former concentration camp prisoners to their rightful owners.