Liberated in Leipzig 1945 - The end of the war from the perspective of forced labourers
Poster intervention and virtual exhibition | Click here for the exhibition
In Spring 2025, „Keep your eyes open!“. Starting in mid-March, you can see our poster interventions marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, on trams and buses, at bus stops and in selected shop windows.
The US troops reached Leipzig on April 18, 1945. At the time, tens of thousands of foreign forced labourers were in the city: civilian forced labourers, prisoners of war and concentration camp prisoners who the Germans had deported to Leipzig from all over Europe to work during the Second World War.
It is their experiences and perspectives on the last days of the war, the liberation and the immediate post-war period, which we are making the subject of the project #LiberatedInLeipzig1945.
In addition to the poster campaign, there will be a virtual exhibition. It introduces the forced labourers and survivors featured on the posters and explore the questions: How did they experience the last days of the war, the liberation and the immediate post-war period in Leipzig? What hopes, fears and wishes did they have in the spring of 1945?
Additionally, there is a broad program of events including readings, guided tours, commemorative events and lectures.
Click here to go to the virtual exhibition.
Design: Janett Andrejewski | Illustrations: Mimi Hoang
The project is funded by the City of Leipzig in the frame of the partnership program for democracy "Leipzig. Place of diversity" and the Strategic Cultural Policy Unit and it is also supported by the L-Gruppe.