End of the war in Europe 80 years ago Exhibition: “1945: Heidelberg – All and Everything Lost?”
Press Release No. 36/2025
25 April 2025
Opening in the New University entrance hall coming up on 4 May
How did the people in Heidelberg experience the end of the Second World War and its direct aftermath? What needs, memories and expectations, hopes and concerns shaped their daily lives? These questions are explored in the photo exhibition “1945: Heidelberg – All and Everything Lost?” devised by Prof. Dr Frank Engehausen together with doctoral candidates from Heidelberg University’s Department of History. In the entrance hall of the New University, it presents – in five thematic blocks – the complex and contradictory life in the city shortly after the war ended. The public is warmly invited to attend the opening of the exhibition on 4 May 2025.
8 May 1945 – 80 years ago – saw the end of the Second World War in Europe and the Nazi reign of terror imposed by a criminal regime. Apart from the Neckar bridges, the city of Heidelberg did not suffer destruction. The people living in it were, however, profoundly marked by the years of dictatorship and war. US occupying soldiers and officers, former forced laborers – now displaced persons – and victims of Nazi persecution had to live with those who had been bombed out of neighboring cities, returning veterans and refugees, leading and ordinary party members, as well as the women and men, young and old belonging to the disintegrated “Volksgemeinschaft” of yesterday. “There was only a faint outline of what would take its place. Heidelberg was a stopover or hometown, former place of repression or hopeful destination, and, for the occupying power, both enemy territory and a political mission field,” underlines Prof. Engehausen.
These highly diverse perspectives are reflected in the photo exhibition “1945: Heidelberg – All and Everything Lost?”. Alongside familiar views, its focus is on creating a collage of people and their daily lives. The five main themes are the arrival of the Americans and the start of their occupation, denazification and democratic reorganization, the daily lives of displaced persons, the food and supply situation in the city, plus the resumption of public education and cultural life. The exhibits include both views of the city and scenes from everyday life in the first few months of the post-war period. The doctoral candidates consulted sources in the Heidelberg City Archive, the Heidelberg University Archives and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Prof. Dr Frauke Melchior, Rector of Heidelberg University, will speak at the opening of the exhibition on 4 May. Doctoral candidate Nils Jochum will give an introduction on behalf of the exhibition team. The opening event is taking place in the entrance hall of the New University, Grabengasse 3-5, beginning at 11am. The exhibition “1945: Heidelberg – All and Everything Lost” can be viewed Monday to Friday from 5 May to 11 July.
Note for newsrooms
Media representatives are warmly invited to attend the opening of the exhibition “1945: Heidelberg – All and Everything Lost?” on 4 May (11am). From 10am there will be an opportunity to preview the photo show “1945: Leonard McCombe – Nach dem Krieg / Aftermath of War” in the Heidelberg Center for American Studies, Hauptstraße 120. Those interested are asked to register with presse@rektorat.uni-heidelberg.de by 2 May.