Online exhibitions

Hermann Scheipers, a Catholic priest, honorary Canon of the Bishopric of Dresden-Meißen, and honorary Papal Prelate, was born on 24th July 1913 in Ochtrup in the region of Westphalia. Following his intervention on behalf of Polish forced labourers he was arrested in 1940 and sent to the Dachau concentration camp. Here he worked tirelessly for his fellow prisoners, above all for the Polish priests. After he escaped from the concentration camp during the so-called death marches in 1945, at the end of the war he fell victim to the second German dictatorship in his role as a chaplain in East Germany. He was responsible for building the first church in the GDR and took an active part at the funeral of Cardinal Stephan Trochta in Czechoslovakia. Here he made the acquaintance of the Bishop of Kraków, Karol Wojtyla. On 25th November 2002 Hermann Scheipers and his twin sister Anna were awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. On 26th February 2013 he was presented with the Knights Cross of the Order of Merit from the Republic of Poland.

Roland Schefferski was born in Kattowitz/Katowice in 1956. From 1971 to 1976 he attended the artistic grammar school in Breslau/Wrocław. Following this, from 1976 to 1981, he continued his studies in the city by following a course in free art at the State College of Visual Arts. In 1984 he moved to Berlin where he still lives and works.

Danuta Karsten, maiden name Chroboczek, was born in 1963 in the village of Mała Słońca, forty kilometres south of Danzig/Gdańsk. From 1978 to 1983 she attended the Artistic Lyceum in Gdynia. She subsequently studied sculpture from 1983 to 1985 at the State College of Visual Arts in Danzig under the guidance of Stanisław Radwański. In 1986 she moved to the Art Academy in Düsseldorf to pursue her studies in sculpture under Günther Uecker and Klaus Rinke. In 1993 she completed her studies as a master student under Klaus Rinke. She now lives and works in Recklinghausen and Herne.

The Bochum Art Museum (Kunstmuseum Bochum) probably contains the most comprehensive and important public collection of Polish 20th century art in Germany. In 2015 it comprised around 100 works from the areas of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, object art and installations.

The history of Polish citizens in Germany is intimately linked with the history of their pastoral care. Most Polish-speaking immigrants to Germany were members of the Catholic Church. In terms of numbers these were followed by Protestant immigrants from Masuria who were particularly prominent in the Ruhrgebiet. Nor should we forget Polish citizens of the Jewish faith.

One of the most remarkable collections of Polish art in Germany belongs to a married couple named Jerke who live in Recklinghausen.

Roman Witold Ingarden, the greatest Polish phenomenologist, can be placed in the ranks of classic philosophers. His Opus Magnum “Controversy on the Existence of the World” can be compared with Aristophanes’ bible of philosophy “Metaphysics”.