How can we get a "picture" of a situation or a place where we don't are? This is one of my leading questions in several of my art works.
After Urša K., who is living in Australia, spoke to me about the circumstances of her grandfather’s death in Oranienburg and about her wish to see the place of his suffering, I went to Oranienburg to collect plants, earth, snail shells and other natural materials. I also took photographs and notes. Then I put all objects into the PostPak with the idea to sketch a 'picture' of Oranienburg and show what the place is about today.
Ingredients: Parcel (25x17,5x10cm), 80 color-prints (13x18 cm), 9 light-drawings (13x18 cm), facsimiles of letters, notes, photos, etc., three glass recipients with earth, pressed plants and snail shells
Acknowledgement: I am especially grateful to Urša K. Without her request and support, this art work wouldn't have been possible. Furthermore, I would like to thank Ali Habib, Ralf Hartmann, Bernd Rose and Claudia Terstappen for their support as well as the Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen.
Background: (see: www.stiftung-bg.de/gums/en/index.htm)
In Oranienburg near Berlin the National Socialists set up the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In 1942, Sachsenhausen had more than 100 sub-camps and prisoner units attached to it, this was mainly due to the massive use of forced labour in concentration camps for the armaments industry and many of the sub-camps were situated near to weapons factories such as the one near the Heinkel aeroplane factory in Oranienburg or in the industrial centres of Siemens and AEG in Berlin.
In the former Kurfürstenstraße, there were several camps of the Auergesellschaft AG.
In the former Alte Heerstraße, there was a camp of the Heinkel aeroplane factory.
In October 1944, Urša's grandfather Miloš K. was transferred from Dachau to Sachsenhausen because he was a technician specialized in railway maintenance. Earlier in the same year, he was arrested in Ljubljana by pro-nazi Slovenian militia. On 13th February, 1945 he was transferred to the Heinkelwerke Oranienburg where he died on 7th March.