Show at the Museum NÖ

“On the run” – when history comes to life

War & persecution: A new special exhibition at the Museum of Lower Austria takes visitors on a very personal journey through time with refugees using 25 objects. 

On the run - from war, destruction and immeasurable suffering. In the hope of survival. The new special exhibition in the House of History of the Museum of Lower Austria in St. Pölten tells the story. Using 25 personal objects from refugees, the memory of this becomes a memorial. For example, 15-year-old Zuzana Brejcha's baby doll ended up in Vienna in 1968 after fleeing Czechoslovakia.

Or a wooden box, for example, which became a symbol after the successful escape from Ukraine to Gmünd in 1916, or Friederike Hacker's opera glasses, a symbol of a new beginning in Argentina out of fear of the Nazis in 1938. "Political conditions, escape routes and means of transportation may change, but certain patterns repeat themselves," explains Christian Rapp, Academic Director of the Haus der Geschichte.

From the Thirty Years' War to the present day, the exhibition focuses on individual life stories with the help of objects with emotional value. "People have to set off into the unknown and can only pack a fraction of their belongings," continues Rapp. On display until February 2, 2025.