On March 2, 2026, at 7 p.m., the Mykola Haievoi Center invites you to the opening of the exhibition “Why are you still alive?” The Holodomor of 1932/33: Stalin plunges Ukraine into the greatest famine in European history. The opening will take place in the LMU main building, lecture hall E004.
- Welcome by Prof. Martin Schulze Wessel, Director of the Mykola Haievoi Center
- Opening lecture: “Resistance and Humanity in Ukraine during the Early Stalin Era” - Dr. Volodymyr Tylishchak, historian, Deputy Director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UINP) in Kyiv
- Small reception and joint viewing of the banners (A280)
The exhibition, conceived by the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance and the Holodomor Museum in Kyiv, shows the background, course, and aftermath of the Holodomor, as well as how it has been remembered and artistically processed.
The 20th century was also a time of “political famines,” which states used to bring “hostile” populations to their knees. The Holodomor (“death by starvation”), the greatest famine in European history, is a harrowing example of this. Under Stalin's rule, the forced collectivization of agriculture and the confiscation of grain and ultimately all food in Ukraine led to the starvation of around four million people.
In the Russian-occupied territories, monuments to the victims of the famine are being destroyed today; Moscow wants to erase the memory of it. In its resolution of November 22, 2022, the German Bundestag classified the Holodomor as genocide and called for raising awareness of this crime against humanity, which is little known in Germany, strengthening a “mindful perspective on our eastern neighbors,” and counteracting “blind spots” in the historical narrative.
The exhibition will be on display from March 3 to April 10, 2026, in the LMU main building, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 1st floor, Dekanatsgang (near the statue “Speerträger”).
The event will be held in German