A shot-up and burnt-out car from Bucha, Ukraine, will be parked on George-Grosz-Platz on Kurfürstendamm from Monday, August 22 to mid-September. The German-Ukrainian exhibition “Testament of Bucha” warns of the horrors of war.
Russian soldiers massacred civilians in the Ukrainian city last spring. A 53-year-old woman, her 14-year-old daughter and two other women died in an attack in the car.
The car wreck stands “in contrast to the orderly environment” of the Ku’damm and “thus confronts the visitors with the reality of the war and the daily struggle of the Ukrainians,” according to an announcement by the organizers and the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district office .
Independent media and journalists from Ukraine tell the story of the victims in videos that are shown. The exhibition’s founders, Andriy Radnyuk and Roman Semenyshyn-Braescu, are Ukrainians and joined the territorial defense of their homeland when the war began.
The Berlin supporters of the educational and cultural project include Oleksandr Shpak (ballet dancer at the Staatsballett Berlin and producer of the benefit gala “Ballet for Life by Iana Salenko”), the non-profit company Regnum Legis and the district regulatory office. The outgoing Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, has assumed the patronage.
Melnyk, co-initiator Radnyuk, a representative of Regnum Legis and City Councilor Oliver Schruoffeneger (Greens) want to take part in the vernissage on Monday at 11 a.m.
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“This exhibition will trigger discussions,” predicts Schruoffeneger. “Do we have to expect such images, such direct confrontation with war and violence?” He agrees. “Only if we also understand what the war in Ukraine means for the people will discussions, for example about whether it would not be better for us to put the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline into operation or be more willing to compromise overall, fall silent. “
A similar exhibition was recently rejected by the Mitte district. A shot-up tank was to be exhibited in front of the Russian embassy. Showing such an object is not appropriate, the district argued.
