Was ist eigentlich Dissidenz?

In the socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, many people stood up against state violence and arbitrariness. As dissidents, they fought for freedom of expression and human rights, speaking out against censorship and the political oppression of dissenting voices. While some remain well known today, others have been forgotten. Many stories have never been told.

But what exactly is dissidence? Is every form of criticism a form of dissidence? Or does it only refer to loud protests, public vigils, and the distribution of banned literature? What about more subtle forms of resistance, such as withdrawing into private life or having conspiratorial conversations at the kitchen table?

The travelling exhibition provides insights into protest movements and forms of resistance from the 1960s to the 1980s. It asks us to consider which of these experiences and attitudes continue to challenge and inspire us today, and to reflect on how they connect with our own histories.

A cooperation between the Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research (ZfL) in Berlin and the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) in Leipzig, funded by the Leibniz Lab disruptions and transformations of the Leibniz Association.

Fig. above: People carry the Czechoslovak national flag past a burning Soviet tank in Prague during the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Source: Wikimedia Commons