Press office

Bohemia, Moravia and Sudeten Silesia was like, how it was lost following the expulsions from 1945 onwards and how the Sudeten Germans sought a new homeland, which many of them found in Bavaria. The museum spans more than 1,000 years of history presented by some 900 exhibits spread over 1,200 square metres of exhibition space. With its light-coloured sandstone façade, the extraordinary new museum building, designed by the architecture firm pmp architekten, makes a bold statement from a site high on the banks of the River Isar.

The permanent exhibition extends over five levels, through which the visitor descends from top to bottom following the sequence of themes. The top level, devoted to homeland and religious faith, introduces the Sudeten Germans and their diverse homeland regions, from Egerland in the west to the Beskids in the east. The most valuable object in this section is a cabinet with relief inlays that was made in Eger in the 17th century.
The economy and culture section of the exhibition shows the full range of Sudeten German economic production, from Kunert stockings and Thonet furniture to Pilsner beer. But the showstopper is the Böhmerland motorcycle, the longest production motorcycle in the world. To illustrate the theme of culture, visitors are invited to a replica of a Vienna-style coffee house.  The section that explores the theme of nationalism and nation state traces the historical developments that led to the loss of the homeland: burgeoning nationalism, the end of the Habsburg monarchy, the founding of the Czechoslovak Republic, the “Anschluss” to the National Socialist state and World War II. Loss and expulsion is the theme of the next section, which focuses on the catastrophe caused by the expulsions. An installation vividly portrays the collapse of the old, familiar way of life. In video interviews, contemporary witnesses speak about what they experienced. How the Sudeten Germans built a new existence for themselves is described in the section of the exhibition devoted to the post-war period and a new beginning: from life in emergency accommodation through the construction of new settlements and the founding of firms to the experience of the culture of remembering. The last theme is that of reacquaintance with the old homeland and rapprochement between Germans and Czechs. The final set piece invites the visitor to join the “Brno reconciliation march” – an annual event that combines remembrance and cross-border encounters.

A barrier-free design hallmarked by clarity and variety provides the setting for the permanent exhibition of the Sudeten German Museum. The mediation of content is supported by modern media technology in the form of audio and video stations as well as touch screens. There are also two large databases: one provides information about some 20,000 towns and villages in the Bohemian lands and the other details the homeland collections of the post-war period

Alongside the permanent exhibition, the Sudeten German Museum regularly stages temporary exhibitions at the Alfred Kubin Gallery of the Sudeten German House in a space measuring 350 square metres.