The invading Russian forces have been destroying Ukraine’s cultural sites and heritage since the very first day The war is murdering people, ravaging cities and infrastructures, and leaving devastation, misery and ruin in its wake. As preservers of cultural identity, museums and libraries have been hit particularly hard: the war has already laid waste to well over 500 cultural institutions and areas of public life. Valuable testimonies to Ukrainian and European identity have been lost forever.

The German Museum of Books and Writing in Leipzig will be marking the first anniversary of the Russian invasion by offering a brief insight into the staggering scale of the destruction: The exhibition will feature a series of images titled “before/after”, consisting of a multitude of photographs showing the aggressor’s brutality and vandalism in this barbaric war. The photos also testify to the sustained cruelty of a war which has already wrought irrevocable destruction and currently has no foreseeable end. A cultural nation right at the heart of Europe is threatened with extinction. At the end of last year, the extremity of the situation was outlined in an open letter signed by more than 70 prominent figures in the fields of science, literature and politics: if Ukraine collapses, the European security order will also fall apart.

The photo series “before/after” was arranged by Khrystyna Kozlovska. The writer from the Ivano-Frankivsk region in West Ukraine has been living in exile in Leipzig with her daughter since the spring of last year. She was able to work at the German Museum of Books and Writing and the German Institute for Literature in Leipzig with the aid of a grant awarded by the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media.