The Museum of Local History in the town of Sumy in north-eastern Ukraine, which opened in July 1920, was completely destroyed in a German air raid on 30 October 1941. The rich ethnological, numismatic, palaeontological and archaeological exhibits as well as the archive were largely destroyed. After the withdrawal of the German troops in 1943/44, parts of the collection were salvaged from the ruins of the building and are now once again part of the museum collection. Their re-identification is one of the main tasks of today’s museum.
The Museum of Local History in Sumy thus suffered the same fate as the Berlin Museum of Prehistory and Early History (MVF) in 1945. Here, too, large parts of the collection were destroyed in the American air raid on 3 February 1945 and after the war, remnants were salvaged from the rubble of the Martin Gropius Building. Their re-identification continues to this day.
The joint project between the two museums and the Commission for the Study of Collections of Archaeological Documents from North-Eastern Central Europe (KAFU) brings together experience in the re-identification of objects from the former collection. The KAFU, which is based at the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, provides support in this endeavour.
The KAFU, which is part of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, has been helping with this for 20 years by re-identifying objects and reconstructing collections from the so-called eastern territories of the German Reich that were destroyed or relocated during the Second World War.
On 18 September 2024, a transport with hardware and photographic equipment left Berlin to finally arrive in Sumy via Hrubieszów in Poland on 28 September.
The re-identification and reconstruction of the collections in Sumy is the prerequisite for future joint research. The Museum of Prehistory and Early History possesses artefacts from Ukraine that have comparative finds in the collection in Sumy. Of particular note are the Gothic finds from the Migration Period (4th/5th century AD) in the Sumy Museum, which are located in the immediate vicinity of the finds from this period in the MVF. With the KAFU members Prof. Dr Wojciech Nowakowski, Prof. Dr Andrzej Kokowski and Prof. Dr Magdalena Macynska with their research on the Goths in the Vistula estuary, the Lublin region and the Crimea, the KAFU has first-class experts on this period. They are also proven experts on the MVF collection and, together with their colleagues and the collection from Sumy, could contribute new aspects to the migration of the Goths from the Vistula to the Black Sea.
The most important basis for such joint research is the recording of the inventory in Sumy. Due to the war in Ukraine, research on site is not feasible. Recording the holdings in Sumy by means of computerisation would be one way of providing assistance with re-identification and thus putting research, such as that on the Goths, on a solid material basis. Cooperation between the MVF and the KAFU with the museum in Sumy could also contribute to the Making Spaces: A Programming Series in Solidarity with Ukraine programme conceived by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and its programme item of a cross-institutional lecture series on the subject of collecting Ukrainian cultural assets. Ultimately, the cooperation with the Museum of Local History in Sumy and the experience gained from it will be the starting point for further cooperation between the National Museums in Berlin (e.g. Coin Cabinet, Museum of European Cultures) or the Commission for the Study of Collections of Archaeological Documents from North-Eastern Central Europe (with the Museum in Sumy or other Ukrainian museums.