The author of the synagogue at the site of the massacre of Jews during the Nazi occupation in Kiev, architect Manuel Herz spoke in an interview with DW about how the unique building was created and how he managed to embody the hope and beauty of life on the site of one of the worst tragedies in history. humanity.
DW: The book-shaped synagogue at Babi Yar is an example of transformative architecture. Is this your unique style?
Manuel Herz: This can hardly be called my special stylistic device. In my work, I concentrate on the task and argue what an architectural solution could be, taking into account a specific place and everything connected with it. Therefore, a transformative architectural project was created for the construction of a synagogue in Kiev.
Babi Yar is a place where an unthinkable number of murders were committed, where the earth is literally soaked in blood. It is important that our response to the annihilation of more than a hundred thousand people is not architecture that calls for silence, but architecture that embodies their polyphony and engages us. Especially in Babi Yar, where almost 34 thousand people were shot in two days, and tens of thousands more in the next few weeks. Each of the killed wanted to live. This is why I aimed to create polyphonic in architectural form. It was the impulse that later led me to the idea of an object in the form of a transformative book that opens up a new world.
Synagogue in Babi Yar
Of course, the building has a memorial value, but not only. Let me emphasize that this is a synagogue that should live and urge us to look to the future. For the first time in decades, a building has appeared here, and it is wonderful that this is a synagogue. Because this is how we start with life, not death.
– How did it become possible to embody semantic metaphors in the material?
– During the construction, we used the wood of century-old oaks from different parts of Ukraine, which makes the building all-Ukrainian. It reminds of the wooden synagogues of Western Ukraine and Poland. Due to its fragility, wood is practically not used in memorial architecture. But it is precisely because of its ephemerality that it encourages us to take care of the building with care and love every day.
We have developed a hand-painted vault design, where individual elements refer to the painting of wooden synagogues of the 17th and 18th centuries. For example, to the Gvozdetskaya synagogue, richly decorated with floral ornaments. The image of the night sky with stars-flowers on the ceiling repeats their location over Kiev, as it was on September 29, 1941. And we, looking at this beautiful hand-painted painting, at the same time imagine the starry sky that the Jews saw shortly before the execution. This is how beauty is connected with the theme of death, and this is how the synagogue is connected with a historical place and event. And here the synagogue celebrates life and its beauty.
– The concept of Ilya Khrzhanovsky, artistic director of the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, has often been criticized. Is it fair?
– What I really appreciate about Ilya is that he dared to undertake a project that was an incredible challenge both technically and in time. The construction of the synagogue from the first discussion to its practical completion took only six months.
Manuel Herz
We must be extremely careful with the legacy of Babi Yar. I think one of the many lessons we need to learn is that national identity should never be defining. It is impossible to reduce everything to some kind of label – “Jew”, “Israeli”, “Russian” or “Ukrainian”. We are all too complex and multifaceted. What can I say about myself? He was born in Germany, lived for many years in England and the USA, and for 15 years in Switzerland. I am Jewish, but I do not go to synagogue every week. Which shortcut is right for me? No.
– You teach a lot and give lectures all over the world. What will the architects of the future be like?
– I look to the future with optimism and rejoice at each new generation of architects. We are one of the last generalists, and must understand different topics: from statics and building law to sociology, history and philosophy. That is why self-confidence, intelligence and curiosity are so important for an architect.
– Today the younger generation in different countries is concerned with the problem of climate protection. How can architecture contribute?
– We can do a lot. The construction of residential buildings, their heating, cooling and, as a result, their demolition take from 30 to 40 percent of all energy consumption. Using environmentally friendly materials, we must create buildings that will consume a minimum of energy. How to redesign buildings so that they do not have to be demolished, or at least how to extend their service life? We have a lot to rethink.
– How actively do modern architects use new technologies? What is the role of artificial intelligence?
– Of course, we use digital technologies every day. For example, for geometric calculations of the position of the sun and cast shadows, which are almost impossible to calculate manually. However, my wife and I love to repeat: “We remain un-AI-able” (play on words: “unable” from English “incapable” and “AI” Ed.). We want to do what an artificial intelligence system can never come up with. Sometimes you ask yourself: “How did it just come to mind?” That’s the beauty of it, we don’t know it.
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“Against Oblivion”: Unforgotten Victims of Babi Yar
Unforgotten victims of the Holocaust
These days in Ukraine they remember the tragedy that happened 75 years ago in Kiev. On September 29-30, 1941, the Nazis shot 33,771 Jews at Babi Yar. But the exact number of those killed there is still unknown, since children under 3 years old were not taken into account during the mass executions. A photo exhibition of Luigi Toscano is timed to coincide with the next anniversary of the tragedy. It features portraits of Holocaust survivors.
“Against Oblivion”: Unforgotten Victims of Babi Yar
There are fewer and fewer witnesses
In total, according to sources, from 100 to 200 thousand people were shot in the Babi Yar tract: Soviet prisoners of war, underground workers, the mentally ill, Jews, Gypsies, Karaites, and children. For decades, Soviet propaganda hushed up the scale of the Babi Yar tragedy. 29 people managed to escape from death in Babi Yar. But every day the number of witnesses to that tragedy is rapidly decreasing.
“Against Oblivion”: Unforgotten Victims of Babi Yar
Against oblivion
The photo exhibition by Luigi Toscano is called “Against Oblivion”. In Kiev, 50 out of 200 portraits of people who survived the Holocaust are presented. Toscano met with his heroes in Ukraine, Israel, Russia, USA and other countries. This photo shows the moment when the exhibits were installed on the alleys of Babi Yar.
“Against Oblivion”: Unforgotten Victims of Babi Yar
Life and destiny
Wide-format (1.8 mx 3 m) photos are placed along two main alleys of the state historical and cultural reserve “Babiy Yar”. In one part, portraits of Ukrainian Jews who survived the Holocaust and the so-called “Ostarbeiters” are presented, in the other – Holocaust victims from other countries.
“Against Oblivion”: Unforgotten Victims of Babi Yar
Luigi Toscano and his exhibition
Luigi Toscano, a German photographer of Italian origin, grew up in a family of guest workers. In his youth, he worked as a roofer, security guard, and washed windows. Luigi says difficult situations inspired him to become a photographer. Having independently mastered the art of photography, he began to talk about human destinies with the help of photos. “Against Oblivion” is one of his most ambitious projects.
“Against Oblivion”: Unforgotten Victims of Babi Yar
The tragedy of Babi Yar
In the fall of 2015, the photo exhibition was presented for the first time in the Old Fire Tower in Mannheim. The portraits were displayed in the windows of the building. After Babi Yar in Kiev, the exhibition will go to Dnipro and Lviv. “Here, at the epicenter of the 20th century tragedy, the exhibition of Luigi Toscano keeps alive the memory of the past, which we are not allowed to forget,” said the head of the German Foreign Ministry Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
“Against Oblivion”: Unforgotten Victims of Babi Yar
Every photo is a human life
The mass shootings on September 29-30, 1941 at Babi Yar are a monstrous tragedy. According to official figures alone, over 30 thousand Jews, including many children, were killed in two nights. “Emotionally, it was very difficult for me to work on this exhibition, – says the photographer Toscano. – Behind each photograph is a whole human life. No one should be forgotten.”
“Against Oblivion”: Unforgotten Victims of Babi Yar
For life
Zdzislaw Zwinyarski was born in Warsaw in 1926. After the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, he was arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp. He survived the death march. Then Zwinyarski was in the concentration camps Mannheim-Sandhofen, Kochendorf and Natzweiler-Struthof. He was in the latter until the camp was closed in March 1945. This photo was taken 3 months before the death of Zdzislaw Zwinyarski on September 16, 2014.
“Against Oblivion”: Unforgotten Victims of Babi Yar
Living witnesses
Vasily Mikhailovsky is one of the Kiev heroes of the photo exhibition by Luigi Toscano. At the end of September 1941, Mikhailovsky was saved from being shot at Babi Yar by his nanny, who showed him her Ukrainian passport. Vasily Mikhailovsky is already the third name of a man. Before the occupation, his name was Caesar Katz, then in the orphanage the nanny named him Vasily and gave her last name – Fomin, and he became Mikhailovsky in a foster family.
“Against Oblivion”: Unforgotten Victims of Babi Yar
Culture of memory
“I especially remember the words of one of the heroines, – recalls Toscano. – It was Susan Chernyak. She said that if people forget their past, they deserve to repeat it.” Susan Chernyak was born in Vienna in 1922. At the age of 20, she and her mother were sent to Theresienstadt. In 1943 they ended up in Auschwitz. Two years later, the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Susan also survived the death march.
“Against Oblivion”: Unforgotten Victims of Babi Yar
Every fourth
The creation of a single memorial complex for the Babi Yar tragedy for Ukraine still remains a problem. The same applies to the creation of a single educational cycle that would be dedicated to the Holocaust in Ukraine. Historian Boris Zabarko claims that every fourth Ukrainian Jew fell victim to the Holocaust.
“Against Oblivion”: Unforgotten Victims of Babi Yar
Can’t kill memory
Active work on the creation of the memorial complex began only in recent years. To date, restoration work has been carried out on the territory of the Babiy Yar State Cultural and Historical Reserve, lighting, benches have been installed, and green areas have been ennobled. Monuments to the victims of the executions at Babi Yar also appeared.
“Against Oblivion”: Unforgotten Victims of Babi Yar
Gypsy caravan
The first victims of the tragedy in Babi Yar, gypsies, a separate monument was erected only in September 2016. In September 1941, 5 gypsy camps were shot in the tract.
