Born a long time after the end of WWII, this past has still a grip on me, and it became tangible on a warm summer day in 2012, when I stepped away from the main street near Obersalzberg in Berchtesgaden for a short stroll.
The concrete remnants of what most certainly were soldier’s barracks before 1945 seemed to literally exsude the spirit of violence and oppression.
That ultra-right representatives now speak of this time as “mere bird droppings on German history” (for reference here in the FAZ), adds to the historically worst crime in humanity, unique in its roots, implementation and envisioned totality, another ineffaceable disgrace. (And no, I will not mention the name of this representative here. This is what he would crave.)
The result of this promenade can be found here: Gallery 47.6245N, 13.03E. I’d ask you to look at it and let your mind work on its own.
Die Stämme und Äste muten fast wie Arme und Beine an. Gestisch irgendwie. Nicht bedrohlich oder gar gruselig, eher still und doch beredt. Und nachdenklich stimmend.
P.S. ich meine auch die Bilder in der Serie.
Ich denke, die Zeit und das weiche Sommerlicht überlagern langsam die harten Betonstrukturen – Gott sei Dank. Das Gedenken erhalten ist nicht einfach.
As we’ve discussed before, I think it’s a strong, evocative series. Quietly powerful.
Thanks, Carl. The series is old, but in spite of my own thoughts about this topic – the tales of my mother, being driven out after the war from (now) the Czech Republic, are still vivid – I never managed to come up with something more adequate.