On the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, a “Museum of Ukraine” has opened in the German capital. It is the first foreign exhibition entirely dedicated to the ongoing war, Deutsche Welle has reported.
The space, covering approximately 300 square meters, is located in a former World War II bunker and forms part of an earlier project that explored Nazism and the nature of dictatorships.
Museum documents war through authentic artifacts and eyewitness accounts
The exhibition’s creators — war journalist Enno Lenze and historian Wieland Giebel — previously worked on the history of Nazi Germany. However, after Russia’s full-scale war in 2022, they shifted their focus to documenting the contemporary war in Ukraine.
They regularly traveled to Ukraine, delivering humanitarian aid and bringing back artifacts from the front lines, which now form the basis of the museum.
The exhibition deliberately rejects reconstructions and staged installations. Instead, it presents real objects from the war. Among them are fragments of military equipment, drones, personal belongings, as well as audio recordings of Ukrainians describing the first days of the full-scale.
One of the central exhibits is a completely destroyed Ukrainian volunteer van, hit in a 2025 Russian drone strike, displayed together with video footage of the attack.
The creators draw parallels between past and present dictatorships
The authors emphasize that the exhibition does not impose interpretations but inevitably invites historical comparisons. According to Giebel, visitors themselves draw parallels between past and present.
“And when we speak to visitors today, they go through an exhibition about Hitler without a modern context and say, ' this is just like Putin,'” he said.
The exhibition will be continuously updated as the team continues to travel to Ukraine and adds new material.
Personal experience shapes the museum’s concept
For Enno Lenze, the war is also deeply personal: in 2014, Russia killed his family member by downing MH17 over Donbas with a missile. He says that from that moment, the threat stopped being abstract.
“I do not want to live under Russian occupation. That is why I must do everything to prevent it,” Lenze said.
He also stressed that if Europeans simply step back from supporting Ukraine, they will eventually have to confront the consequences of the so-called “Russian world".
