Exhibition “Faces of Europe” in Neubrandenburg
26.09.2026
From 8 September to 1 October 2026, the exhibition “Faces of Europe” will be presented in the windows and interior of the Regional Library Neubrandenburg. It features large-format portraits of 27 women from 13 European countries who were imprisoned in the Ravensbrück concentration camp for women. The photographs, most of which were taken after 1945, offer insights into the lives of the survivors after liberation – between new beginnings, remembrance and coming to terms with their experiences. Personal texts by children, grandchildren and friends complement the portraits and make the women’s life stories visible across generations.
The travelling exhibition is a project of the International Ravensbrück Committee and the Ravensbrück Memorial. In Neubrandenburg, it is made possible by the Women’s Initiative Neubrandenburg and the Coordinator for Remembrance Work, with support from the THW and the Regional Library and funding from the State Agency for Civic Education of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Opening of the exhibition
Neubrandenburg Mayor Nico Klose during the opening of the exhibition
In front of the sculpture “The Mourning Woman” with the organising team
The NDR programme “Nordmagazin” has also reported on the exhibition. The report, “Faces of Europe: Exhibition commemorates women imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp”, was produced for the opening on 8 September 2026 and is available in the ARD Mediathek.
Watch the report in the ARD Mediathek
You can access the “Faces of Europe” website via this link.
“The Mourning Woman” commemorates around 6,200 women who were imprisoned in satellite camps in Neubrandenburg 70 years ago and were forced to work in armaments factories.
On 17 April 2015, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Ravensbrück concentration camp for women, the sculpture “The Mourning Woman” by sculptor Wolfgang Friedrich was inaugurated in the centre of Neubrandenburg together with almost 50 survivors of the concentration camp.
On the foundation’s website it says:
“The new memorial site commemorates the suffering of more than 6,000 prisoners of the Ravensbrück concentration camp who, from 1942 to 1945, were forced labourers in the two Ravensbrück satellite camps and had to manufacture machine guns, shells, aircraft propulsion technology and bomb-release mechanisms for German Heinkel bombers.
These women came from almost all of the territories of Europe occupied by the German Wehrmacht. Most came from Poland and France as well as from the former Soviet Union, particularly from the territory of present-day Ukraine, but also from Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Hungary and Slovenia. For further information, we recommend reading our article “The Ravensbrück concentration camp and its satellite camps”.”
This memorial was made possible by the Demokratischer Frauenbund e.V. Kreisverband Neubrandenburg/Mecklenburg-Strelitz and donations from people and companies in the region.