The Robbe & Berking Museum in Flensburg is hosting the prestigious World Press Photo exhibition until October 5, showcasing 42 of the world's best photojournalism works selected from nearly 60,000 submissions. As the only venue in Schleswig-Holstein to present this renowned exhibition, the museum offers visitors a rare opportunity to witness powerful visual storytelling that documents our contemporary world.

The exhibition presents compelling photographs that capture human suffering, hope, and resistance across crisis-torn regions worldwide. According to Mariana Rettore Baptista, a representative of the World Press Photo Foundation, 120 photographers lost their lives last year while documenting stories, predominantly in Gaza. She emphasized that these images were captured under breathtaking and often life-threatening conditions across 141 countries experiencing various crises.

For over 70 years, since 1955, the World Press Photo competition has celebrated the world's finest award-winning works in photojournalism and documentary photography. These images demonstrate not only visual excellence but also the immense power behind visual journalism. Museum host Oliver Berking noted that in today's overwhelming flood of images, the exhibition provides visitors with a unique opportunity to quietly contemplate individual photographs and their deeper meanings.

During a guided tour through the exhibition, Baptista explained the backgrounds and extraordinary circumstances behind each displayed photograph. Visitors confronted endless suffering, brutality, and bloodshed, but also witnessed signs of resilience, uprising, and resistance. One striking example is Luis Tato's photograph capturing Kenya's youth revolt, where young people became the driving force behind protests against corruption and police violence. His image shows a protagonist with pink spray paint on his face, simultaneously displaying desperation and defiant anger.

The exhibition features particularly moving stories from Myanmar, where photographer Ye Aung Thu witnessed the 1988 military coup as a six-year-old child. When his own son reached the same age, history repeated itself. Since then, according to the image description, he has documented resistance groups whose determination serves as a beacon of hope in dark times. His work captures Myanmar as a nation in conflict, showcasing the resilience of those fighting for freedom.

One of the most aesthetically striking yet deeply troubling images serves as the exhibition poster, part of a larger photo series. It shows a man with his back to the camera, bare-chested, wearing a straw hat against the blazing sun, carrying two plastic bags. He is surrounded by endless expanse during the Amazon drought, bringing food supplies to his mother in the village—supplies he once could transport by boat but now must carry on foot due to the severe environmental crisis.

The exhibition also documents desperate paths of hope in Colombia, where refugees fleeing threats of violence, exploitation, and economic hardship face an unimaginably risky route through treacherous jungle terrain. Their destination is the United States, highlighting the dangerous journeys migrants undertake in search of safety and opportunity. El Salvador is another focus, a country where more than 80,000 people were arrested without explanation under a state of emergency, subjected to torture and mistreatment, with many losing their lives.

John Moore's work follows Chinese migrants during illegal border crossings between Mexico and the United States. Remarkably, detailed tutorials available on the internet provide step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish such crossings, illustrating the organized nature of modern migration routes. The exhibition naturally includes documentation of the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, captured at what became a turning point in the election campaign, with the dramatic moment showing the President shouting "Fight, Fight, Fight" as Secret Service agents moved him from the line of fire.

Baptista, who guided visitors through the exhibition in front of the world-famous photograph of the Trump assassination attempt, emphasized the critical importance of these images in documenting contemporary history. She stressed that particularly now, it is not the time to oversimplify complex global situations, as these photographs serve as mirrors reflecting our shared human experience.

Oliver Berking reflected on the exhibition's impact, acknowledging that visitors might sometimes think these distant crises don't represent their world. However, he emphasized a crucial truth: "It is the same world we live in." The World Press Photo exhibition at the Robbe & Berking Museum continues to challenge viewers to confront global realities through the lens of exceptional photojournalism, serving as both historical documentation and a call for greater awareness of our interconnected world.