Germany: The Touring "Fields of Shame" Exhibition Concludes Successfully in Hamburg

November 17th 2005 was the official opening day of the four day photo exhibition “Fields of Shame” in Hamburg. The German division of the International Society for Human Rights (IGFM) had organised the exhibition, which critically exposed the human rights situation in select communist ruled countries. The IGFM maintains observer status at the European Council, and ECOSOC-Roster status at the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Worldwide, it has twenty six divisions and four groups in different nations. The group invited Falun Gong practitioners to provide information about the persecution in China, as part of the exhibition.

The keynote speakers were Mr Helmuth Steckel, the representative of the Free Tibet group in Germany, a representative of the Chinese Democracy Movement in China, Mr. Wang Zhen from Hamburg (the sister city to Shanghai) and Mrs. Nina Gumpold of the Falun Gong group in Hamburg. A representative from the Polish counterpart to IGFM, Mr. Arek Luba, was also present. The representative from the Chinese Democracy Movement reminded us of the 1989 student massacre and talked about a gentleman who is still in prison suffering torture because of his democratic convictions. Mr. Wang talked about his personal experiences in a forced labour camp in his hometown Shanghai, where he was imprisoned for two years because of his Falun Gong practice.

Members of one school class in the audience were touched and sad; many of the youngsters were comforting each other. The location of the exhibition in Hamburg’s busy inner city was advantageous and reached many people. In addition, many representatives of the press, business people, and politicians passed the exhibition on their way to lunch. The petition in favour of human rights was quickly filled with signatures. There was much interest and feed-back about the initiative. Falun Gong practitioners tolerated the cold weather without difficulty and conducted many meaningful conversations during the four day exhibition. The photo exhibition was available for viewing to anyone, day and night, free of charge.