Most standard history books on World War II contain lists of casualties, which do not include those from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania. Yet World War II was fought in many Third World countries. So in 1985 a group of researchers called “recherche international e.V.” started working to change this eurocentric version of history. They did research in 30 countries of Africa, Asia and Oceana, and in 2005 they published the book “Unsere Opfer zählen nicht – Die Dritte Welt im Zweiten Weltkrieg“ (“Our victims don’t count – The Third World in World War II”).
In 2008 the Third World in World War Two (3www2) project produced a special educational edition for teachers and schoolchildren. And in 2009 the 3www2 exhibition opened for the first time in Berlin. Subsequently it was shown in more than 70 locations in Germany and Switzerland in historical museums, documentation centres, schools and universities.
In 2016, an English version of the exhibition was produced. And on 28 February 2017 this version premiered at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town. It subsequently was exhibited at Freedom Park in Pretoria, the Holocaust & Genocide Centre in Johannesburg, the Steve Biko Centre in King Williamstown, and the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town. In 2020 the exhibition moved back permanently to Cape Town’s Castle of Good Hope.
Denis Goldberg played a key role in developing the South African section of the exhibition, and the Denis Goldberg Legacy Foundation Trust coordinated the hosting of the exhibition in South Africa.
South African journalist John Mattison talks with Karl Rössel, who led the 3www2 project, about the exhibition
The Chinese Global Television Network reports on the exhibition in Cape Town.
The 3www2 project concluded with an exhibition in Cologne from 8 March to 1 June 2025. In addition to the main 3ww2 exhibition, works by artists who dealt with the consequences of the Second World War for their countries (Egypt/Sudan, Algeria, Indonesia/Netherlands, Australia, South Korea/Pacific Islands) were also on display.
The South African section of the exhibition included an introduction honouring Denis’s commitment to presenting the exhibition in South Africa.
You can find out more about the 3ww2 project on their website. And you can explore the online versions of the original exhibition in German, English, French or Portuguese at ausstellung.3www2.de
You can visit Cape Town’s Castle of Good Hope to see the full English version of the Third World in World War II exhibition.
