FREEDOM IS JUST A DREAM FOR US – On Imprisonment, Suffering and Resistance

At the Museum of Yugoslavia on Monday, 29 April at 6 p.m., the exhibition “Freedom is Our Dream” will open. Through objects created in the camps of the World War II, it sheds light on experiences of imprisonment, violence and resistance. The exhibition is authored by historian Veselinka Kastratović Ristić, art historian Ana Panić, and historian Dušica Stojanović.

The exhibition draws on the collection of the Museum of Yugoslavia, which includes many artefacts made in concentration camps and prisoner-of-war camps, as well as artworks that deal with life in the camps. It focuses on small, personal and material traces of individual lives – objects that give a sense of the prisoners’ everyday reality and preserve fragments of what they went through.

Drawings, handmade items, fragments of clothing, personal documents and notes all bear witness to lives cut short. Their documentary power lies precisely in their fragmentary nature – in the way they preserve traces of lives that cannot be fully pieced back together yet still bring us close to the experiences of people who can no longer speak.

Through these objects, the exhibition also looks at everyday life in the camps and the ways people tried to survive – holding on to their identity, a daily routine and a sense of meaning in the face of violence. It invites visitors to pause over these fragments and connect with the fragile but lasting traces of lives cut short by violence.

A special part of the exhibition focuses on contemporary art practices, including an audio installation based on real historical documents. It brings the experience of imprisonment to life through sound, making it more immediate and emotionally powerful for visitors.

The exhibition includes works created across the territory of Yugoslavia, as well as those made by Yugoslavs who were imprisoned in camps and were in detention outside its borders. Thus, it highlights the wide range of experiences and testimonies about life in the camps

Drawing on historical examples, the exhibition opens up space for reflection on resistance as something universal – on the individual and collective ways people confront injustice, both in the past and today.

The exhibition will be open until October 2026.