Can You Believe It? German Press About My Project!

I don't really believe in coincidences, and every once-in-a-great-while something comes along to remind me why I don't believe in coincidences.

Seligenstat Newspaper article about me working in the Jewish cemetery. Last November 9 (2008), which was the 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, I was in Seligenstadt, Germany making glass plate photographs in a Jewish cemetery that was destroyed during that pogrom.  My friend, Jan from Berlin, was there and a journalist named Armin Wronski, from the Offenbach Post was there, too. Jan's mother and step-father live in Seligenstadt. Jan and his family arranged for the paper to be there. As I made plates, Armin shot digital photographs of me and Jan told him all about my Kristallnacht project, auf Deustch, of course. I thought this would be a great piece and a huge accomplishment for me if they actually published it. To be honest with you, I didn't think they would. (You can click on the image to enlarge and read)

You have to think about this; I'm an American, with Jewish heritage, in Germany making photographs of one of the most terrible events in human history perpetrated by this country and its people. This is a very difficult and serious topic. It's hard to talk about, it's hard to think about, and a lot of Germans feel ashamed and powerless over the situation. Would you want to publicize this? Of course the angle is soft in this article, it's the technique, the Wet Plate Collodion process, that's intriguing for people. Also, if you know about Germany and the Germans, you'll know how out of place I look/seem in my dark box next to a cemetery, pouring strange chemicals on glass plates. This is not what I would call, "ordnung" - and Germans need things proper and in order. However, the people of Seligenstadt were very kind and gracious to me. They were interested in what I was doing - and that's a wonderful thing for me. I think the fact that the newspaper ran this piece is a testament to their willingness to talk about this, that's the key.

Anyway, back to coincidences; I didn't hear a word about it for two months. Just last week, it entered my mind, "What did they do with that story? Did they ever publish it?" On Monday, January 5, 2009, I wrote Jan and Armin an email asking what became of the story. Jan immediately wrote back and said, "It's in today's paper!" Are you kidding me? I was beside myself and tripping out. I hadn't really even thought about it until that weekend and the day I send the email, it's published!?! Wow! Like I said, no coincidences. What does that mean? Am I psychic? No, I'm not, but I am connected to this in a bigger way than I even think I know about and it's these kinds of things that prove that to me.

If you ever find yourself in a rut and are bored with life, move to Germany and start an art project about the Holocaust. If you have any German friends, ask them to raise interest in the local media about you and your project. And finally, to really get things going, tell them that you have Jewish heritage. Try it sometime, you'll find that it's both rewarding and challenging. Life will NOT be boring anymore.

Follow up - January 12, 2009: After running this by my German friend for a complete translation, I've got to say that I'm not impressed. There's not one mention of Kristallnacht, or the fact that my entire project deals with that. I'm sure he was censored, or censored himself. I had my hopes up. It's a "fluff" piece, and in the big picture, it means, nothing.

The Transports

Train tracks in DachauMy friend, Caron, gave me a great idea for my Kristallnacht project. She suggested that I make images of train tracks and stations that were instrumental in moving Jews to the concentration camps. "The Final Solution" could not have happened without the railways, without the trains making the mass transport possible. The Germans sent 30,000 Jewish men to Dachau and Sachsenhausen on Kristallnacht by way of trains.

The photo on the left is one I snapped at Dachau one year ago (December 2007). I remember thinking, "These are the rails that carried all of those people to their death". It was profoundly sad and visually striking to me.

This is a very insightful and interesting idea on many levels. It resonates with me simply for the fact of how much we us railroad metaphors and how they take on a whole new meaning here in Germany. For example, "derailed"or "derailing", "track wreck", "just the ticket", "off track", "one track mind", "railroaded", "fast track", "express", "letting off steam", "blowing your stack", "tunnel vision", "bells and whistles" and "end of the line". I see trains here in that kind of context.

The transports were usually cattle cars. At times, the floor of the car had a layer of quick lime which burned the feet of the human cargo. There was no water. There was no food. There was no toilet, no ventilation. Some boxcars had up to 150 people stuffed into them. It did not matter if it was summer, winter, boiling hot or freezing cold. And an average transport took about four and a half days. Sometimes the Germans did not have enough cars to make it worth their while to do a major shipment of Jews to the camps, so the victims were stuck in a switching yard - "standing room only" - for two and a half days. The longest transport, from Corfu, took 18 days. When the train got to the camps and the doors were opened, and everyone was dead.