From cannon fodder to avant-garde—the forgotten soldiers who freed Europe
Until 14 June 2026, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), or House of World Cultures in Berlin, a centre for international contemporary art and non-European cultures, presents Tirailleurs: Trials and Tribulations, subtitled “From Cannon Fodder to Avant-Garde—The Forgotten Soldiers Who Freed Europe.” The exhibition highlights the often overlooked fact that the majority of the 250,000 troops in the so-called B Army, the main French force that liberated southern France from the Nazis in 1944, were African soldiers from then-French colonies.
While commemorative gestures, such as inviting African leaders to anniversary events, intermittently take place, most recently when on 15 August 2024 French President Emmanuel Macron invited the world to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the B Army’s landing in Provence that followed the Normandy invasion, this history remains politically co-opted, under-researched, and unknown to many people.
In 2026, the HKW seeks to address this gap with a wide-ranging programme that examines the role of the Tirailleurs in the liberation of France; how their efforts contributed to the liberation of Germany itself; and their impact on securing peace in Europe after 1945. The consideration of the Tirailleurs is expanded to reflect similar histories from other geographies and temporalities, demonstrating the continuity of the exploitation of “human resources” across different regimes. The exhibition brings together works by more than thirty international artists across generations, including fourteen new commissions, and features archival materials, research from five art spaces and collectives, and film screenings.
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