The Gerhart Hauptmann House in Düsseldorf hosted the grand opening of the STUS exhibition dedicated to Ukrainian poet, human rights activist and symbol of the struggle for freedom Vasyl Stus. This is the first large-scale international exhibition on Stus’s life and work presented outside Ukraine.
The exhibition, which will run from 5 September 2025 to 27 February 2026, brings together archival documents, letters, photographs, translations and art installations that tell the story of Stus’s uncompromising struggle against the Soviet system, his resistance to Russification and his defence of Ukraine’s right to its own culture and language.
Among the guests of honour at the opening were Dmytro Stus, the poet’s son and director of the Taras Shevchenko National Museum in Kyiv, and René Böll, son of Nobel Prize winner Heinrich Böll, who supported the Ukrainian dissident during his lifetime.
The exhibition was initiated by the Pilecki Institute, the Stus Centre and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. In Düsseldorf, the project was implemented in cooperation with the Polish Institute, the Lev Kopelev Forum and the Düsseldorf–Chernivtsi Partnership Association.
“Through the life and work of Vasyl Stus, we want to tell Europeans about Ukraine’s struggle for freedom and the right to have its own voice. His fate is a mirror of colonial pressure and human resistance,” the organisers said.
Over the next few months, the exhibition will host a series of events – poetry readings, discussions, concerts and performances – that will complement the conversation about cultural identity, human rights and the legacy of the Ukrainian dissident movement.