The long table, covered with a white cloth and white china, looks as if the guests have just left. Fifteen high-backed chairs stand close together around the table. In its center a row of yellowed documents unfolds almost along its entire length. The table symbolizes the one at which the 15 participants of the Wannsee Conference discussed the systematic murder of millions of Jews 80 years ago. This is where the perpetrators sat. They have disappeared.
Because with this artistic installation, which will open on Thursday in the lobby of the House of Representatives, the viewer’s attention should be directed, unlike usual, not to the perpetrators, but to the victims, but above all to the survivors. you are present Five steles with life-size black and white photographs stand around the table. They show some of those who, according to the will of the perpetrators, should have been dead for more than 75 years – but survived. They are not alone: each and every one of them has a grandchild or great-granddaughter at their side.
They look at the empty chairs and the minutes of the conference on the table that call for their assassination – and they shout: “WE! ARE! HERE!”. This is the title of the installation realized by the Berlin-based international historians’ network History and Documentation.
On the fringes of the construction work in the lobby of the Berlin Parliament, Julien Reitzenstein explains the concept he has developed: “We are showing a paradigm shift. Most of the works and exhibitions on the Wannsee Conference are always about the 15 perpetrators, their motivation, their role, what they ate and drank at the conference. With this installation, the victims push the perpetrators out of history: They have faded, disappeared, but we are here!” This is how a new emotional-visual approach to the events at Wannsee 80 years ago is possible.
The photos were taken with the huge “Imago Camera” in Berlin
The installation fascinates you with the great conciseness of the images, which is achieved with the walk-in “imago camera”, which is unique in the world. The Berlin artist Susanna Kraus uses it to create direct, life-size full-body portraits on special reversal photographic paper without lenses or negatives. A special feature of the 7 x 4 x 3 meter camera is that the people portrayed take the photo themselves and show themselves exactly as they want.
For the installation, survivors of the holocaust came to Berlin from several countries to be portrayed up-to-date. One of them is Peter Brent, who was born in Vienna in 1935. His parents’ shop in an Austrian village was looted during the Night of Broken Glass in November 1938 and his father was taken to the Dachau concentration camp, but released again. With the help of friends, the family managed to flee to England and start a new life there. Many of their relatives, on the other hand, were killed in German concentration camps.
Peter Brent made a career as a doctor in England. He had his portrait taken with his granddaughter Serena, a lawyer, for the installation. Together they visited the memorial in the Villa am Wannsee and viewed the location of the conference in the idyllic surroundings. “It’s hard to imagine the fun and laughter around the table as the evil ensued,” Brent wrote in the caption that accompanies his photo. “Sadly, the conference was largely successful in its goals – but: We are here! The black shroud over the Wannsee will forever cloud its beauty and must never be forgotten.”
A companion volume to the exhibition will be published on the classification of the Wannsee Conference and its consequences. The heart of the volume, however, are the biographies of the survivors depicted. After the opening, the installation, funded by the Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin, will travel around the world. The “Imago Camera” can be set up at central exhibition locations in order to continually add other protagonists to the installation.
WEATHER! ARE! HERE! A photographic-artistic “Nevertheless!” Survivors of the Shoah and their descendants – and their thoughts on the Wannsee Conference. Exhibited in the lobby of the Berlin House of Representatives, Niederkirchnerstraße 5.