"It's probably not well-known outside Germany that at the end of World War ll, around 12 million Germans had to leave their homes in the former eastern German provinces and elsewhere."
Even before it opened its doors, the exhibition "Forced Paths" attracted a lot of controversy in the German and Polish media.
The aim of the organisers of the exhibition at the Kronprinzenpalais on Berlin's Unter Den Linden Avenue is ambitious - to explore the plight of millions of people who were forced to flee their homes in Europe during the 20th Century.
There are dozens of examples of civilians who were expelled in Europe, ranging from the mass killing of Armenians from 1915-16, the Holocaust, to refugees in Cyprus and the former Yugoslavia.
There are many objects on display, including suitcases, photo albums and other personal belongings which the refugees took with them into exile.
But, controversially, the exhibition also focuses on the suffering of Germans who were expelled from Poland and Eastern Europe after World War ll.
