What is Dissidence? (Exhibition)

In the socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, many people stood up against state violence and arbitrary power. 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 refer only 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 exhibition is conceived as a traveling exhibition and will be shown in public spaces across Berlin-Brandenburg and Saxony.

Nine posters provide insights into protest movements and forms of resistance from the 1960s to the 1980s. They ask 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. We invite you to share your own thoughts and experiences at dissidenz@zfl-berlin.org.

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.

Concept and editorial team: Georgia Lummert (ZfL), Alexander Mionskowski (GWZO), Dirk Naguschewski (ZfL), Olga Rosenblum (ZfL), Matthias Schwartz (ZfL), with the participation of Susanne Jaeger (GWZO) and Stephan Krause (GWZO)
Graphic design: GRUETZNER TRIEBE Berlin/Leipzig
Online design: Jonathan Sandkühler (GWZO)

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