Zukunft

A personal series on memories, family and World War II.

Zukunft

(future)

"I was still standing on a northern corner.

Moonlit winter clouds the color of the desperation of wolves.

Proof of Your existence? There is nothing but."

(Franz Wright)

Between 1933-1945 Germany and many parts of Europe were dominated by Nazism and World War II.

71 years later, the traumatic experiences of this period are still present in Europe. Memories are associated with pain, violence and threat. In Germany in particular, this legacy took the form of guilt in post-war generations, ashamed by the events and their place in history.

This work is traversed by that history and is my attempt to build and shape my own memory.

I found a box of photos taken by my grandfather during World War II, witnesses of an era that I only know through stories and images of others, but which nevertheless influenced me to the point of having nightmares about the war when I was a girl.

My grandparents survived the war and just as many of their generation they have passed away and now their memories will soon be part of the past. Through the diaries of my grandmother and her narrations I heard the stories of life, suffering, hunger, guilt and death, and not only obedience but also resistance against the Nazi regime. My grandfather on the other hand only spoke once of the past, of the horrors he had seen, of his near-death experience and then has never talked about it again. Finally, these memories, their memories, became part of mine, as an inherited memory.

Through these memories I build my own memory, the past, the present and thereby, also the future.

In September 2016 my brother died of sudden cardiac death. Suddenly, the future came down on us.

This project is dedicated to him.