Exhibition on the Unity Monument moves to the West

The exhibition on the planned national monument to freedom and unity in Leipzig is going on tour. From May onwards, the exhibition "The monument is..." will make stops in a historic extension hall in Frankfurt am Main, Karlsruhe, Nuremberg, Hanover and Bonn, as the Peaceful Revolution Foundation announced in Leipzig on Thursday. For around three weeks in each of these cities, information will be provided on how the memorial process has developed to date.

The exhibition and the planned memorial will deliberately look beyond Leipzig, as the planned memorial is not a Leipzig memorial, but a place of remembrance of German democratic history of national importance, said Gesine Oltmanns from the Peaceful Revolution Foundation on Thursday in Leipzig. "After all, a central result of the Peaceful Revolution is a reunited Germany." With the "Westreise", the aim is also to provide current impetus and show that the Peaceful Revolution has given rise to the task of shaping and protecting democracy together. "Which is all the more important in times of populism and growing hostility towards democracy," emphasized Oltmanns.

From 2025, a Freedom and Unity Monument is to be erected on Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz in Leipzig to keep the memory of the Peaceful Revolution of 1989 alive. The international artistic competition will start at the beginning of June 2024 following an invitation and application process for participants.

Leipzig was a starting point for the peaceful Monday demonstrations. On October 9, 1989, 70,000 people took to the streets of the trade fair city and stood up for their civil rights. The planned location of the memorial is next to the former demonstration route, the inner city ring road.