»Der Warschauer Aufstand 1944« – Buchvorstellung und Gespräch mit Prof. Dr. Stephan Lehnstaedt

In the organizer's words:

Online event - registration required!

The uprising in the Polish capital Warsaw against the brutal German occupation in the late summer of 1944 is "for some [...] a crystallization point of their history and of outstanding symbolic significance, for others [...] unfortunately still a relatively blind spot." Robert Probst was undoubtedly right to say this in a review of Stephan Lehnstaedt's new book in the Süddeutsche Zeitung at the beginning of August 2024. It should be clear that "some" means most people in Poland today, but "others" here means the vast majority of Germans today. It is therefore all the more important that the great pent-up demand for knowledge among the German public can at least be met to some extent, not only by the exhibition currently on display at the Gerhart Hauptmann House (until the end of March 2025), but also by a new book by a German expert with a proven track record in the field. In fact, until the publication of Stephan Lehnstaedt's study in summer 2024, there had not been a German-language monograph on this topic for decades. This sheds an all too telling light on the level of attention in Germany to a topic that is central to understanding historical consciousness in our largest eastern neighbor.

Prof. Dr. Stephan Lehnstaedt received his doctorate in history from the University of Munich and worked at Chemnitz University of Technology, the Institute of Contemporary History and from 2010 to 2016 at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw. Since then, he has been teaching at Touro University Berlin, specializing in Holocaust Studies. He is a recognized expert on German occupation policy in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe and the mass crimes associated with it, having published numerous articles. He is also Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation in Berlin.

The event will take place online as a video conference. To receive the access data, please send a short e-mail to"sekretariat@g-h-h.de.

Program accompanying the exhibition "The Warsaw Uprising 1944"