![[Translate to English:] Test](/fileadmin/_processed_/3/6/csm_Umsiedler_Museum_Start_3_79d7435d37.jpg)
![[Translate to English:] Test](/fileadmin/_processed_/3/6/csm_Umsiedler_Museum_Start_3_91bee3bc68.jpg)
News
To kick off the summer season, the Volhynian Resettlers Museum invites you to the musical and literary program “What Remains” featuring Katharina Martin-Virolainen and Oleg von Riesen.
Date: Sunday, May 3, 2026
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Location: Volhynian Resettlement Museum, Kiether Str. 2, 18292 Linstow
From Volhynia to Siberia, along the Danube to Bessarabia, from the heights of the Carpathians to the vineyards of the Caucasus—in many places, there are still numerous signs of former German settlement. An abandoned half-timbered house, the ruins of an old church, a forgotten gravestone in the cemetery, or a lone apple tree in the middle of a field bear witness to a world that has been lost.
Between 2018 and 2025, Katharina Martin-Virolainen and Oleg von Riesen traveled through eleven countries in search of traces of the history of German minorities. They visited former German villages, places of exile, museums, and memorial sites. They spoke with eyewitnesses and dedicated individuals who continue to preserve the legacy of the past to this day.
They documented their search for traces through photographs and videos and processed their experiences into sensitive texts and songs. With their multimedia program, the two artists invite the audience on a journey through time and speak about what remains when seemingly nothing is left.
The author Katharina Martin-Virolainen was born in East Karelia. She is the founder and director of “Meine Leute,” a theater dedicated to the history of displaced persons and ethnic German repatriates, in Eppingen. For many years, she has been exploring the history and culture of German minorities—including those in the former Soviet republics—through artistic projects. Composer Oleg von Riesen was born in Kazakhstan. In addition to his own compositions, he sets poems by artists such as Nora Pfeffer, Valeria Koch, Gerhard Hauptmann, and Gertrud von den Brincken to music.
Coffee and cake will be served. Admission is free. Donations to support the museum’s work are appreciated.
To mark the day of remembrance for the victims of flight and expulsion, the Wolhynian Resettlement Museum invites you to a lecture titled “The Forced Resettlements from the GDR Border Region along the Inner-German Border in 1952” with Rainer Potratz.
Date: Friday, June 19, 2026
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Wolhynian Resettlement Museum, Kiether Str. 2, 18292 Linstow
On May 26, 1952, the GDR Council of Ministers adopted a new border regime for the border with the Federal Republic of Germany. Over 8,000 people, who were considered politically unreliable for various reasons, were deported against their will and without prior notice to the interior of the GDR. They were resettled in the hinterland under conditions that were at times inhumane. The reasons for their forced resettlement remained largely unknown to those affected. In nearly all villages near the border, from the Baltic Sea to the border triangle near Hof, people were affected by this coercive measure.
In his lecture, Rainer Potratz describes the historical background, the process, and the consequences for the victims. He provides an overview of the forced resettlements following the construction of the Berlin Wall on October 3, 1961, and of subsequent individual resettlements. Furthermore, he describes the difficulties faced by the victims in having their experiences of persecution recognized in the Federal Republic of Germany since the 1990s. Eyewitnesses from Mecklenburg will also share their stories.
Rainer Potratz is a historian who has been researching the GDR’s border regime for many years. Most recently, he served as an advisor to the State Commissioner of Brandenburg for Coming to Terms with the Legacy of the Communist Dictatorship.
The event is sponsored by Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Meckelburg-Vorpommern. Admission is free.
