10.11.2022.

The exhibition “Vuk Karadžić and the Germans" was opened on November 10, 2022 at the University of Hamburg. The Exhibition is organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Berlin and the "Vuk Endowment".

The exhibition, which was produced by the "Vuk Endowment" under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia at the initiative of the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the Federal Republic of Germany Dr. Snežana Janković, is a testimony of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić's cooperation with famous Germans such as Goethe, Schiller, the Brothers Grimm and others, as well as about the time he spent in Germany almost 200 years ago.

At the opening ceremony at the University of Hamburg, Prof. Dr. Robert Hodel, director of the Institute of Slavic Studies, pointed out the importance of the translation work of Goethe, Jacob Grimm and the other  translators who came after them for familiarizing the German and European public with Serbian and South Slavic folk literature.

The Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the Federal Republic of Germany Dr. Snežana Janković, addressing the audience, emphasized that Vuk Karadžić's cooperation with the great writers and philosophers of German culture two centuries ago resulted in the spiritual and cultural connection of our peoples, enriching the German cultural space with curiosity and interest in Serbian folk literature. She said that the Embassy of Serbia in Berlin and the "Vuk Endowment" wanted to bring the audience, both in Germany and Serbia, closer to the fact that beneath the sediments of history and difficult moments, which occasionally marked Serbian-German relations, exists such a treasure of mutual understanding, appreciation and desire to get to know each other better.

On behalf of the "Vuk Endowment", the audience in Hamburg was addressed by Prof. Dr. Boško Suvajdžić, one of the co-authors of the exhibition and president of the "Vuk Endowment" Board of Directors. Having familiarized the attendees with the process of creating the exhibition, Prof. Suvajdžić took the audience through the most important places, characters and events that marked Vuk's collaboration with the intellectual elite of Germany in the 19th century. 

Dr. Jasmina Mitrović Marić, Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the Kingdom of Denmark, was a guest at the opening. She introduced the audience to Vuk's contacts with Danish writers of that era too, illustrating the influence and reach of Vuk's work among the intellectual elite of Europe at the time.

Among the numerous visitors, the opening of the exhibition was attended by professors and students of Slavic studies at the University of Hamburg, representatives of German cultural and educational institutions and numerous prominent representatives of the Serbian diaspora.

The opening of the exhibition in Hamburg was supported by the German Society for Southeast Europe (Südosteuropa - Gesellschaft).

The exhibition will be on display at the University of Hamburg until December 10, 2022, after which it will move to other cultural and university centers in Germany, such as Berlin, Jena, Halle and others.