Six Years of War, One Day of Liberation

9 May marks 80 years since the end of the Second World War in Slovenia. Just three months later, the bloodiest military conflict in human history came to an end in Asia. The rise, violence and collapse of Nazism and fascism received real-time newspaper coverage. The printed media, which documented the gradual approach of war, its eruption, its rampage and its end, is one of the material relics of that time. This upcoming round anniversary is the last of its kind celebrated by the resistance fighters. The youngest will soon be a hundred years old. In ten years' time, their testimonies will be gone. 

The Museum of Press has been collecting old copies of newspapers reporting on World War II at flea markets, attics, basements, garage sales, antique shops and auctions. The collection has been more than two decades in the making. Some of the newspapers were published underground, distributed by couriers. Some were published in large print runs in parts of the world untouched by the war. The content of the newspapers is by no means homogeneous. Some newspapers glorified Hitler, some Stalin. At the same time, details printed more than 80 years ago are an ominous echo of modern times. Readers will be hard pressed not to notice parallels between Hitler's claims relating to Czechoslovakia or Poland and those of the present-day rulers.