Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger: Documenta left her alone in her grief

2023-11-21 17:47:38

Opinion Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger

Documenta left her alone in her grief

As of: 4:47 p.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes

The Israeli artist Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger

Quelle: Getty Images/Iguana Press/Roberto Serra

You can listen to our WELT podcasts here

In order to display embedded content, your revocable consent to the transmission and processing of personal data is necessary, as the providers of the embedded content require this consent as third party providers [In diesem Zusammenhang können auch Nutzungsprofile (u.a. auf Basis von Cookie-IDs) gebildet und angereichert werden, auch außerhalb des EWR]. By setting the switch to “on”, you agree to this (revocable at any time). This also includes your consent to the transfer of certain personal data to third countries, including the USA, in accordance with Art. 49 (1) (a) GDPR. You can find more information about this. You can revoke your consent at any time using the switch and privacy at the bottom of the page.

The artist Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger spoke out for the first time after leaving the Documenta search committee. Your contribution is a shocking document for a German cultural institution that is unable to show compassion.

There is an article in the “FAZ” from October 21st appeared, which will become a historical document: a conversation portrait of the Israeli artist Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger (75) by Sandra Kegel. The artist resigned from the Documenta 16 search committee a week ago because, as she put it, she was “given no choice.”

For once, it wasn’t about BDS petitions or anti-Israel propaganda on Instagram. Five days after the Hamas massacre, as the horror flickered across the screens in more and more images, a meeting was scheduled. Ettinger could only be connected digitally from Tel Aviv. You have to know: These are six people who have to communicate, nothing more.

Reckless reaction

And Ettinger only asked that the meeting be postponed: “All of Israel stood beside itself, still does. For me it was about pausing and grieving,” she is quoted as saying. Added to this was the certainty of how “endless suffering on the part of the Palestinians and the kidnapped Israelis” could now be expected. “How can you not take this into account?” she asks.

The descendant of Holocaust victims has been dedicating herself to the trauma of the Shoah and its transmission to generations for decades and is committed to a peaceful two-state solution. At the age of 19, she became a hero in Israel because she saved many lives as a soldier in an unprecedented rescue operation by the Israeli warship Eilat, herself wounded. She has been traumatized and knows what is at stake. In Kassel, however, they made the wrong decision again in such an important, existential situation.

Incomprehensible, but Documenta managing director Andreas Hoffmann didn’t address it. In an interview with WELT, he spoke of an amicable decision, but now called for the discussion of a “break”. You can’t figure it out. An endangered institution like Documenta has the time to take its time. She wasn’t bullied by anyone.

Ettinger was nevertheless denied the request for compassion, to pause, to understand. Solidarity that the art scene is so keen to promote. So Ettinger only has the experience of being “left alone”. And the Documenta is another sad highlight on the way to the hoped-for new beginning.