Since 2022, the Arolsen Archives have presented the traveling exhibition #StolenMemory at 33 venues in Poland. Now, thanks to the German Foreign Office decision to continue its support through 2026, a further 20 venues in Poland are planned. And for the first time, a #StolenMemory poster exhibition will take place in Ukraine, likewise in 2026.

Since as far back as 2023, the target audience of the trilingual (Polish, English, and Ukrainian) traveling exhibition has included Ukrainian refugees in Poland. For several years now, we’ve also been working with Ukrainian schools, especially in Kyiv, for example, to carry out international #StolenMemory seminars for young people in Poland. In Ukraine, there is a lot of interest in reexamining the history of World War II, particularly in view of the fact that the fates of many victims of Nazi persecution have never been clarified. At the same time, in the context of the Russian war of aggression against that country, World War II has been purposefully exploited for disinformation and political propaganda purposes.

Over the past two years, support from the German Foreign Office has enabled us to present #StolenMemory at 20 venues in Poland. We are especially proud of the Polish BohaterON Award we received for the project and the Warsaw Uprising campaign we launched in 2024.

The new Foreign Office support in the amount of 140,000 euros will enable us to build on this strong foundation, continue the project in Poland, and expand it in Ukraine.

Searching for families of victims of Nazi persecution

The aim of #StolenMemory is to find relatives of victims of Nazi persecution whose personal possessions are kept by the Arolsen Archives and return them to their families.

Of the approximately 2,000 envelopes containing the personal possessions still in the holdings of the Arolsen Archives, more than 500 belonged to Polish victims of Nazi persecution and about 70 to Ukrainians. Over the past few years, we have built a network of dedicated volunteers in Poland—and with their help have already returned these precious keepsakes to more than 200 families.

#StolenMemory poster exhibition to debut in Ukraine

A traveling exhibition in a converted shipping container is presently not possible in Ukraine owing to the Russian war of aggression. To address this problem, we are developing a poster exhibition in Ukrainian. This exhibition will be presented at five venues in Kyiv and—depending on the course of the war—in other regions of Ukraine as well.

The search for families has proven quite difficult in Ukraine, especially in the war-ridden areas. These circumstances make the close cooperation with local partners and civil-society organizations all the more important.

In collaboration with our Ukrainian project partner, the NGO Tolerspace, the exhibition will be accompanied by a targeted social media campaign, mentoring programs, and online seminars. What’s more, international educational programs (in Ukrainian, Polish, and English) are being developed specifically for Gen Z, and whenever personal possessions are returned, wide publicity helps to draw as much attention to the project as possible.

In Poland, the #StolenMemory traveling exhibition will be presented at a further 20 venues next year. It will be accompanied by an extensive framework program developed in cooperation with local organizations including memorials, museums, schools, cultural associations, and municipal institutions as well as local historians. Our Polish partner for the Foreign Office support project is the Kraków University of Economics.