Opening of the Exhibition “Dictatorship and Democracy in the Age of Extremities”

On September 29, 2014 the official opening of the exhibition “Dictatorship and Democracy in the Age of Extremities: a Focus on European History in the XX century” took place at Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine”. The event was organized by Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine”, “Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies, supported by the German Embassy in Ukraine. 2014 happened to have some key dates: the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War and 75th anniversary of the Second World War, the 25th anniversary of the fall of communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the 10th anniversary of EU enlargement to the East. The exhibition “Dictatorship and Democracy in the Age of Extremities” is dedicated to these anniversaries. It is prepared by the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich and Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship.

Opening of the exhibition in Dnipropetrovsk was commemorated to the 73rd anniversary of the shootings at Babi Yar.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Dr. Detlef Voltaire, Consul General of Germany in Donetsk; Refat Chubarov, the Head of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis; representatives of Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, the Dnipropetrovsk Jewish Community, public figures, academics, participants of the Final of the XI International Contest of Creative Works of Pupils, Students and Teachers “Lessons of War and the Holocaust - Lessons of Tolerance” and those wishing to come. After the official opening, the guests could look through materials of the exhibition – 26 posters representing 190 photographs from numerous archives of Europe. Tour of the exhibition was conducted by Dr. Oleksandra Leonova, Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine” Head of Research Department. Large posters tell us about how the experience of violence of the First World War, which historians have called “disaster of a century”, contributed to the rise of totalitarian movements of the XX century, and how the new democracies which after the end of the war fought for stability, had soon gone to defense. In Russia, the Communists came to power, in Italy – fascists. In some countries of Central and Eastern Europe authoritarian regimes appeared. The ideas of nationalism, left radicalism, anti-Semitism, racism and conspiracy theory were spread not only in Germany. But it was here in 1933 where the National Socialists, who were deliberately preparing for a new war, came to power. It is impossible to understand the causes of dictatorships in Europe and explain the Second World War, without the history of World War I.
The exhibition is donated to the Museum, so all who could not join the official opening will be able to see content at any working day of the Museum.