Anomaly-MAID Thesis by Jaydeep Chug, Hochschule Anhalt by Jaydeep Chug

AN Ja p

AL Y

“Anomaly” Remembering the German Resistance against NSDAP and SED, and promoting Historical Prison Museums

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I am thankful to,

My advisers Dr. Sandra Giegler and Prof. Uwe Gellert for their patience and guidance Amélie zu Eulenburg from Lindenstraße Foundation for sharing her expert insights My immensely talented friends in MAID for being a constant source of fun and inspiration Department of Design in Dessau of Anhalt University for giving us this platform to learn Peter Hohenhaus for his website that helped me discover the places mentioned in the book City of Berlin for being this fascinating and most of all my family for their unbounded faith and support

INDEX

1 INTRODUCTION ____________________________________ 1 2 EXHIBITING CRISIS __________________________________ 9 3 HISTORICAL PRISON MUSEUMS ________________________ 17 4 GERMAN RESISTANCE _______________________________ 28 5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

____________________________ 33

6 INTERVIEW WITH RESEARCH ASSOCIATE _________________ 36 7 MEMOIRS OF RESISTANCE MEMBERS ____________________ 38 8 ‘DIE VERGESSENE ECKEN’ INSTALLATION ________________ 41 9 END NOTES _______________________________________ 56 10 SOURCES ________________________________________ 57

INTRODUCTION

Paul Löbe Haus, Berlin // January 2019

HUMANS AS AN ANOMALY AMONG SPECIES

Hamta Pass, Himachal Pradesh, India // July 2016

1.1

It is hard to believe that the human race, in its current phase of evolution, is anything but an anomaly. So far, we have discovered millions of species of living organisms, and it is a well-known fact that there are still many more out there unknown to us. However, none of them has had the level of ‘impact’ on the planet as us. The extent to which we have modified our living environment in the name of ‘progress’ is simply staggering. In some places, it is beyond recognizable, when compared to the original. We went, from behaving as and resembling the ape lifestyle, living in small groups, moving from place to place while hunting and growing our food, to the current digital age while the line between present and future keeps on getting increasingly blurry; from the point of view of our planet, in a relative blink of an eye. Changes often have implications. The faster the change, the direr the consequences. The race to develop and try new materials, far outpaced the solutions on how to deal with them once they are used. The development of new technologies outpaced the predictions on what happens if they fall in ‘wrong hands’. (Why do ‘wrong hands’ exist in the first place?). The complexity of societal systems and labels are oblivious to those who cannot identify themselves in one of the few hastily predetermined roles and categories.

The initial ‘race’ was quite simple, a race to survive. It was just about how to find and gather enough food to survive and make it to the next day. However, this race since then has taken off like something never seen before. Initially evolving to things still important for long-term survival, like clothing and shelter, to then slowly moving to the turf of a ‘luxury’. When it was no longer so difficult for one to address their ‘needs’, what emerged next were the ‘wants’. One could say that is precisely the moment when things started going downhill. Maybe because ‘needs’ are usually quite definite, rational and quantifiable, but the same cannot be said about ‘wants’. Moreover, while the ‘wants’ often happen to be infinite, our world isn’t. This discord might be one of the biggest causes of the inception of the institution that we are going to talk about next.

2 INTRODUCTION

“Anomaly” - Something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected

“The extent to which we have modified our living environment in the name of ‘progress’ is simply staggering. At some places, it is beyond recognizable, when compared to the original.”

other option left but to murder them. Needless to say, in no circumstance can they leave this place.

3 The good news is that humans have developed very advanced reasoning and research methodologies, which they can employ when they want to determine how effective a system of solutions is to any given challenge. The bad news, which is probably also, why very many other challenges in the world today remain unaddressed, is that humans are not always able to believe, accept and act based on even the most rational of the findings. That is probably the only reason why Prisons in their current forms, even exist. Multiple independent pieces of research time and again have consistently proven that our current methods of ‘corrections’ do create a short term illusion of resolution by isolating the offender, but in long term, are nothing but severely handicapped when it comes to avoiding reoffending and ensuring rehabilitation; which should probably be our paramount objective.

PRISONS AS AN ANOMALY AMONG BUILDINGS

As we evolved, we very soon realised the importance of territories. In addition, one can say that the system never got outdated. Today, it is hard to imagine the world in any other way, without the concept of ‘countries’ as we exactly have it, which are nothing but (very) boldly demarcated and (usually) mutually agreed-upon territories. Once the territory was acquired, the next logical step was to build over it and assign the function. Surprisingly, in spite of having a large variety of places today, most of them can still be relatively easily classified into a handful of categories: • The oldest and the most common; residences or living spaces. • The work places and learning places; all offices, businesses, schools and administration. • And the connecting, recreation and well-being places; Entertainment, Sports, Stations, and Hospitals. However, all these places, to varying extents, can be visited by ‘Free Will’. One decides where they want to live, work, study, shop, get medical care or watch a movie. There exist places where the visits are less pleasant, maybe like Administrative offices, but luckily, these visits happen occasionally and last less than a few hours. Nevertheless, there does exist a place, where none of the above applies. A kind of anomaly. People do not arrive here at their will, and in fact, know nothing about the place until they arrive. They remain here; isolated from the outer world and everyone they know, ranging from a few months, up to their entire lives; and in rare cases, until the ‘system’ decides that there is no

“Despite being seen as the ultimate “stick” to ensure social order, prison is not a deterrent for most forms of offending. Crime is largely impulsive or driven by complex external factors on decision-making – the notion that offenders are “rational agents” weighing up the cost and benefits of offending has been largely debunked.” [1]

1.2

The city of Lublin rises in the backdrop of

INTRODUCTION

Majdanek Concentration Camp, Poland // September 2018

PRISONS AS AN ANOMALY AMONG BUILDINGS

Johannesburg, South Africa // February 2019

1.2

Do you or I, want to be criminals?

that have once been labeled as a felon. Considering those notions a lot of questions arise:

Is it important to know ourselves better? Especially, what our reactions could be in certain extreme situations? Is ‘crime’ only defined by law, or should we also have our own, personal ethical boundaries? Do there exist circumstances, which can push a person more on an offending path? Can you or I, commit a crime in such a circumstance? Should we, as a society, also think about mitigating those circumstances?

INTRODUCTION

To me, a prison is a contradiction on so many levels. The scale of these contradictions begins with the story of a single person: his upbringing, his situations, decisions, and consequences. Fascinating are questions that are raised from morality and ethics. Contradiction then exists in rules, or laws that decide what actions are liable for imprisonment. Laws that also change with time and countries. The levels of contradiction extends up to the whole system of imprisonment itself; whether or not it is the best way to ensure justice. Thus, the prison, being the very tangible and physical manifestation of this extreme contradiction, has remained a subject of constant interest and intrigue for me. The questions raised above have a very interesting link to the topic discussed next. The time period that I would like to focus on predominantly, starts with the rise of National Socialism in Germany and ends with the fall of the Berlin Wall. I think this time in itself, was probably a kind of Anomaly in recorded history. What is also particularly vexing, are most of the notions that people foster in their minds about other people

Knowing that many people do commit crimes, does that mean a lot of us do not know ourselves well?

For that matter, does anyone actually want to be a criminal?

that were carried out, needed people with skills ranging from engineering to sewing, while the proceedings

of the operations were always a kind of open secret among the general population. Indirect forms of participation like partial involvement, financial funding, ideological support, moral encouragement, voting, or even plain ignorance; depending on whom you ask, simply remain different ‘shades of grey’. Nevertheless, this project is not about those common people that were a majority. There was another league of people, who were actually not so different in any measurable way. They were born in similar compliant families and belonged to various socio-economic backgrounds. They studied in the same schools as others or worked alongside them. However, what set them apart was that their moral compasses were much stronger than those of others and they could see the fault that the system was crippled. Moreover, that the system is not as smooth and flawless as it pretends to be. It was not possible for them to remain silent once they could either completely or even partially grasp the gravity of the situation. How they displayed their discontent varied greatly, from being vocal to attempting assassinations; though it was a well-understood fact that any or everything in this spectrum could get them in severe trouble, and yet that was not a deterrent for them. And that itself once again, was what set them apart, their desire to speak their mind against what they saw was wrong in the face of dire consequences.

“Was the Final Solution the result of an intentional plan by Hitler, one that he made years ahead of time, or was the Final Solution more of an improvised reaction to the immediate circumstances that the Nazis had made for themselves?” [2]

THE RESISTANCE AS AN ANOMALY AMONGST THE MAJORITY

The questions raised above have a very interesting link to the topic discussed next. The time period that I would like to focus on pre dominantly, starts with the rise of National Socialism in Germany, up until the fall of the Berlin Wall. I think this period in itself, was probably a kind of Anomaly in the entire recorded history. The gradual and universal acceptance to antiSemitism, and homophobia against multiple minorities, which started initially as discrimination, very quickly escalated to dehumanization, expulsion, concentration, and eventually extermination, at the colossal scale, had never been seen before in the civilsed world. Although it is true that an individual indeed spearheaded most of the chain of unfathomable events, it would be quite preposterous to assign all the blame just to him. Without the incessant compliancy that he received from a vast majority at various levels, none of what happened could have even been remotely possible. So then, a rather blunt but obvious question would be: Who was responsible? This was probably one of the most ethically and morally perplexing questions after the end of the Second World War. In holocaust historiography, this has led many to takes sides of either Intentionalism or Functionalism, the debate between which has spanned decades and continues today. Regardless of the stand one takes, one might attempt to answer this question beginning with the party leaders, military heads, and heads of other important departments. From here, it might be impossible to stop at least up until the end of the chain of command, the foot soldiers, military and state police who actually carried out the violent orders that were given. However, it is not at all absurd to deduce, that the indirect culpability extends far beyond them. The logistics of the operations

1.3

August Landmesser at workers gathering, Blohm+Voss shipyard

INTRODUCTION

Hamburg, Germany // June 1936. arastiralim.net

EXHIBITING CRISIS

2. An installation with Hundreds of rifles pointed towards names of even more people who were considered to be murdered by the state during the time of DDR.

EXHIBIT DESIGN FOR HUMAN TRAGEDIES AND ‘DARK TOURISM’

Nineties Berlin, Berlin, Germany // August 2018

2.1

Attribution of memorials for everyone who was a part including the smallest of minorities is a constant endeavor.

Many of these places visited can be classified as falling under the general umbrella of a new term called “Dark Tourism”. “Dark tourism, as the name implies, is tourism that occurs at sites where death, tragedy, crime, or humanitarian atrocity has occurred at some point in the past. As there are many varieties of human tragedy, sites of dark tourism may include anything from former concentration camps to historical slave quarters, to legendary battlefields.” [4]

10 EXHIBITING CRISIS

The inception of the idea about this project goes back to the summer of 2018 when I spent more than two months exploring Berlin, and then some major cities and places in the neighboring country Poland. Since moving to Germany, there were many places that I wanted to visit and experience, but the clear priority to those with a direct and indirect connection to the Second World War was never in question. By then, I had already spent a considerable amount of time reading and learning about them, and I believed that visiting those places in person would be the last and final step to end my quest. However, very quickly I realized that it was rather just the first step towards making my peace with them. Germany’s efforts to curate and conserve the remaining traces from this chapter of history have been notable, especially since 1970 and even more so after reunification in 1990. The constant delicate balance of remembrance without glorification is very evident.

“In the immediate post-war period, a divided Germany found different ways of shirking responsibility for the not-sodistant past. People in the West generally avoided the topic entirely, while the newly established Communist East gave itself a clean slate, essentially absolving itself of any responsibilities for Nazi crimes. Slowly, however, Germans began to accept their historic responsibility. In 1970, while on a state visit to Poland, West German Chancellor Willy Brandt dropped to his knees at an event to commemorate the Jewish victims of the Warsaw Ghetto. The gesture was unplanned and marked an iconic moment in Germany’s remembrance culture.” [3]

of colors and fonts to the lighting and material palette of the exhibition is a kind of learning lesson.

EXHIBITION DESIGN FOR HUMAN TRAGEDIES AND ‘DARK TOURISM’

In the chapter, I would like to briefly talk about how the places that I visited have conveyed their message. Different designers and curators use different approaches to effectively communicate. The range varies from being very explicit, showing the hard reality with no sugar coating whatsoever (eg. Auschwitz, Poland exhibit of large number of personal belongings of the deportees), up to others who prefer to take a much abstract and artistic approach trying to capture the essence of the matter without actually displaying any real object or details (eg. “Shrine” – artistic installation at Majdanek, Poland, combining sculptural, artistic and musical elements as a tribute to all nameless victims of Majdanek Concentration Camp). It was beneficial for me to learn more about the history from them and very interesting to see which approaches the designers took. Moreover, irrespectively, the sensitivity and respect with which the stories are told is also impressive. Everything including the choice

“The most acutely complex issue in curating exhibitions on the Holocaust is how to address the subject in a world without survivors and without the possibility of discovering new original materials. How can one build an exhibition in a world in which visitors have been exposed to so many visual horrors that their emotional threshold has been stretched to its limits? Or when their knowledge is decreasing, as the Holocaust turns from a contemporary, tangible, witnessed event into a de-traumatized historical event? The way to express a painful, traumatic subject like the Holocaust in visual terms relies on changing the exhibition’s philosophical perspective.” [5]

2.1

“Shrine” – an installation combining sculptural, artistic and musical elements as a tribute to all nameless victims of the Concentration Camp,

State Museum Majdanek, Lublin, Poland // September 2018

A very unvarnished installation of typical camp cloths depecting rows of weak and hunched prisoners marching in formation along the barbed wire of the camp fencing. “Kraków under Nazi Occupation 1939–1945”.

EXHIBITING CRISIS

Schlinder’s Factory Museum, Kraków, Poland // September 2018

Here is the exhibits are just a couple of original suitcases, but the backdrop wall is designed with a stack of replica suitcases that convey the sense of multitude.

Original suitcases from Jewish prisoners displayed as a hastily piled up bunch; probably the norm at the time or the manner in which they were discovered. Memorial and Museum, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Oświęcim, Poland // September 2018

EXHIBIT DESIGN FOR HUMAN TRAGEDIES AND ‘DARK TOURISM’

Museum of the Second World War, Gdańsk, Poland // September 2018

2.1

With more than 70,000 stones already laid all over Europe, making the Stolpersteine (“stumbling stone”) project the world’s largest decentralized memorial. The artist Gunter Demnig remembers the victims of National Socialism by installing commemorative brass plaques in the pavement in front of their last address

of choice. According to him, “a person is only forgotten when his or her name is forgotten”. Photo - dpa

The larger than life Soviet Memorial where the modulation of sheer scale of sculptures and landscape architecture are employed to pay tribute to mark final resting place of 13,200 of the 80,000 Soviet soldiers that had fallen during the Battle of Berlin.

EXHIBITING CRISIS

Soviet War Memotial, Pankow, Berlin, Germany // August 2018

The long vertical voids in this museum building signify the absence and loss of millions of European Jews during the Second World War

A hyper-realistic scene showing a typical aerially bombed-out street of a city. These scenes are only seen in pictures and sometimes it is important to recreate them. Museum of the Second World War, Gdańsk, Poland // September 2018

EXHIBIT DESIGN FOR HUMAN TRAGEDIES AND ‘DARK TOURISM’

Jewish Museum, Berlin, Germany // August 2018

2.1

A towering photo wall with dramatic top lighting. The height portrays a sense of guilt in the sense of a tower of injustice, while the viewer ‘looks up’ to the victims in a way with a sense of respect.

Museum of the Second World War, Gdańsk, Poland // September 2018

A usual photo wall with pictures of victims of the Concentration Camp,

EXHIBITING CRISIS

Memorial and Museum, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Oświęcim, Poland // September 2018

HISTORICAL PRISON MUSEUMS

3. The inner courtyard of Patarei Sea Fortress-Prison, constructed in 1840, it housed and even saw executions of hundreds of resistance members and inocent victims of Soviet Communism betweem 1940 and 1991.

INTRODUCTION TO HISTORICAL PRISON MUSEUMS

Tallinn, Estonia // September 2019

3.1

buildings have long been flattened and what remains are memorials (Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, Germany).

18 HISTORICAL PRISON MUSEUMS

Historical Prison Museums are a category of “Dark Tourism” which I believe have a lot more potential than being just “tourism”. In this chapter, I would like to talk about the Historical Prison museums that I have visited so far, in Germany, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, and South Africa. Most of these were set up and run by either the NSDAP, DDR or KGB. The people housed here were arrested on many different grounds including Petty, Political or Violent crimes to also the infamous “Schutzhaft” (Protective Custody). What also greatly varies is the scale of these prisons. There are some, which were simple houses that were urgently repurposed (KGB Prison Cells, Tallinn, Estonia) to lock suspects arrested from nearby districts; for questioning, until they are acquitted, or until they were convicted and shifted to other larger facilities. Speaking of larger facilities, there were also bigger Prison campuses within the city with multiple buildings but were so well disguised, that no one ever found out their actual purpose while they were operational (Gedenkstätte BerlinHohenschönhausen, Berlin, Germany). Some of them were set up by one government but then were later adopted by the successive ones as their need always remained. Lastly, some are also just memorials where the original historic

“Prison tourism, as it is sometimes called, is one of the few means by which members of the general public–outside of direct stakeholders, such as prisoners and prison personnel–are able to experience a prison environment first-hand. As such, while most “ordinary” citizens tend to think of prisons as drastically disconnected from their own lives, there is great potential for historical prisons, like other sites of dark tourism, to change such perceptions amongst their visitors.” [6]

“Historic prison museums represent the merger of two distinct institutions, that of the prison and of the museum. Building on the legacies of these different, but related, establishments, former sites of incarceration that now operate as public history venues must fully recognize the potential and responsibility of their position in the current social, cultural, and political environment. The new museology reimagined the function of the museum; the advent of historic prison museums reinvented its form. Now, public historians and museum professionals must reconsider and reconceive interpretation at historic prison museums in order to meet the challenges, and fulfill the promise, of the new museology.” [7] Following is a full list of Historical Prisons that I visited in 2018 and 2019, some selected pictures of the exhibitions and my observations

‘PROJECTION MAPPING’ AS AN IMMERSIVE MEANS OF STORYTELLING IN EXHIBITION DESIGN Furthermore, another tool that I would like to expressly mention here is ‘Projection Mapping’. I came across its use in many different kinds of exhibitions, and with the advent of modern projection hardware and new intuitive software, it has rapidly become a very easy and compelling tool for storytelling. When used wisely, it can very effectively generate an immersive experience with minimal invasion of electronic hardware that usually feels a bit obtrusive. It also helps in a lot of situations where any form of physical intervention in the form of information panels, fittings, etc. can leave a permanent mark on places whose authenticity is very important and needs to be kept intact. I will illustrate some such examples following the Historical Prison Museums.

DOCUMENTATION HISTORICAL PRISON MUSEUMS

1. Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, Berlin, Germany 2. Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, Germany 3. Memorial SA prison Papestraße, Berlin, Germany 4. Memorial and Meeting Place Leistikowstraße Potsdam, Germany 5. Gedenkstätte Lindenstraße Potsdam, Germany 6. Prison inside Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Oranienburg, Germany 7. The Corner House, Former KGB Prison, Riga, Latvia 8. Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights, Former KGB Prison, Vilnius, Lithuania 9. KGB Prison Cells, Tallinn, Estonia 10. Patarei prison exhibition, Communist Soviet Union Prison, Tallinn, Estonia 11. Hotel Katajanokka, Formerly “Helsinki County Prison”, Helsinki, Finland 12. Robben Island Prison Museum, South African Government, Cape Town, South Africa

3.2

1. Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, Berlin, Germany Sprawling large secret Stasi Prison facility with authentic interiors. The actual Prison area has no individual tours so there is no exhibitons to maintin the authenticity

of the place and it can be visited only in guided tours.

2. Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, Germany A large gray stone wall marks the entry area. Most of the orginal building was destroyed but the execution chamber still exists, which, considering the severity of events here, is kept quite simple,

HISTORICAL PRISON MUSEUMS

authentic, and usually has flower dedicated in memory of those who were executed here.

3. Memorial SA prison Papestraße, Berlin, Germany Small but probably the only surviving largely authentic prison operate by the SA Field Police (Sturmabteilung, or Storm Troopers) who arrested, interrogated and tortured above all political opponents, Jews and other groups persecuted by the Nazi regime. The exhibiton used warm

lights, and minimal intervention to preserve the original feel of the premises.

4. Memorial and Meeting Place Leistikow Street Potsdam, Germany Communal cells, sanitary facilities and bleak basement isolation cells with wall markings are highlights of this Soviet Remand Prison (originally a house) preserved almost wholly in an authentic state. The exhibition furniture blends in the interiors to an extent, and there lot of audio video content.

5. Gedenkstätte Lindenstraße Potsdam, Germany Probably the only prison that was run by the Nazi, Soviet, and Stasi State Police consecutively. Dozens of surving cells spanning 4 total floors, tell stories of hundreds of prisoners; many from the resistance group and some who survived to tell the tale in their own words.

Text, video and related objects are displayed in cells and corridors.

6. Prison inside Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Oranienburg, Germany The conditions inside concentration camps are brutal as such, making it quite impossible to imagine the state of a prison inside the concentration camp. Unfortunately the prison has been replastered recently.

HISTORICAL PRISON MUSEUMS

The camp living areas have free standing audio and text information coloumns.

7. The Corner House, Former KGB Prison, Riga, Latvia Former KGB Prison with very original surving cells, and a very small exhibition describing its

8. Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights, Former KGB Prison, Vilnius, Lithuania KGB Prison with original ‘Standing Water Cells’, which were filled with water to prevent the prisoner from being in any position but standing. The exhibition area is independant on upper floors and the basement houses the prison cells.

DOCUMENTATION HISTORICAL PRISON MUSEUMS

history, The actual prison part can only be visited be visited with a guide.

3.2

9. KGB Prison Cells, Tallinn, Estonia Cells in the basement of a house , which were used as a prison by the KGB. The exhibition itself is quite small and limited but there is a very interesting installation and room to get inputs,

suggestions, reviews and engage with the visitors to initiate a dialouge.

10. Patarei prison exhibition, Communist Soviet Union Prison, Tallinn, Estonia Also featured in the beginning of this chapter, “Communism is Prison” exhibition at Paterei prison uses color to its advantage. Strategically placed, triangular and contrasting, red (symbolising communism) triangles do a

HISTORICAL PRISON MUSEUMS

great job at grabbing attention while speaking about the devils of state enforced communism in Soviet Union.

11. Hotel Katajanokka, Formerly “Helsinki County Prison”, Helsinki, Finland On the opposite end of the spectrum, this ex-Prison complex in Helsinki has been now converted into a luxurious high-end hotel. From spending money on housing criminals to now customers paying spending a fortune to get a chance to live in this unique hotel, is nothing but a strong irony.

12. Robben Island Prison Museum, South African Government, Cape Town, South Africa One of the most famous Historical Prison Museusms in the world, owing to the fact that Nelson Mandela was imrpisoned here for 18 years. The prsion is not so old, there are a few exhibitions in the tour, which is organised and guided by ex-prisoners.

DOCUMENTATION HISTORICAL PRISON MUSEUMS

Also goes to show how the effectivenes of good spatial and interior design.

3.2

Left: Use of bold Projected Typography for visual communication avoiding the need of any physical intervention that modifies the original prison interiors in any way. Right: Projection-Mapped animations inside prison cells that explain the daily functioning and

general conditions inside the prison when it was in use.

Left: A projection-Mapped city centre model/plan that is interactive and explains history through through a series of animated events. Right: A kind of poetic text projected on two opposite sides of a small prison cell using two

HISTORICAL PRISON MUSEUMS

projectors, simple typography and music. PolinMuseum

“The Forest” installation at the beginning of exhibition at Polin Museum, which depectes how Poland was completely comvered in forests when the first Jews arrived there. The use of translucent screens here give a sureeal and dream-like feel to the visitors.

The simulation of a typical street in Poland from a district of Jewish majority. Here the projection mapping helps create a 1:1 scale streetscape, that physically needs only white surfaces and projectors. This is a very effectient and good example to design an installation.

PolinMuseum

PROJECTION MAPPING IN EXHIBITIONS AND PRISON MUSEUMS

PolinMuseum

3.3

GERMAN RESISTANCE

ORIGINS OF NSDAP After the end of the First World War, during the period of the Weimar Republic, Germany entered a very difficult period. In 1919, army veteran Adolf Hitler, frustrated by Germany’s defeat in World War, which had left the nation economically depressed and politically unstable, joined a fledgling political organization called the German Workers’ Party. Founded earlier that same year by a small group of men including locksmith Anton Drexler (1884-1942) and journalist Karl Harrer (1890-1926), the party promoted German nationalism and anti-Semitism and felt that the Treaty of Versailles, the peace settlement that ended the war, was extremely unjust to Germany by burdening it with reparations it could never pay. In July 1921, he assumed leadership of the organization, which by then had been renamed the Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party.

Through the 1920s, Hitler gave speech after speech in which he stated that unemployment, rampant inflation, hunger and economic stagnation in post-war Germany would continue until there was a total revolution in German life. Most problems could be solved, he explained, if communists and Jews were driven from the nation. His fiery speeches swelled the ranks of the Nazi Party, especially among young, economically disadvantaged Germans. In 1929, Germany entered a period of severe economic depression and widespread unemployment. The Nazis capitalized on the situation by criticizing the ruling government and began to win elections. In the July 1932 elections, they captured 230 out of 608 seats in the German parliament. In January 1933, Hitler was appointed German chancellor and his Nazi government soon came to control every aspect of German life.

GERMAN RESISTANCE - NSDAP

Under Nazi rule, all other political parties were banned. Hitler was an extreme nationalist, racist, and anti-Semite, believing that only the German ‘Aryan’ race should dominate. His expansionist policies sought ‘Lebensraum‘ for the German people. His days of power were characterized by spreading Nazi Propaganda while expanding the empire overpowering the neighboring countries and sending Jewish and other racial minorities into exile and eventually, extermination. This was pretty much the reality of Germany right until the end of Second World War. [8]

supporters, or even supporters of (banned) American Jazz and Swing music. [9]

“Those who risked their lives to hide Jewish fellow citizens and acquire forged exit permits for them, those who tried to help Russian prisoners-ofwar, those who, at their workplaces, fought for the rights of workers and refused to be indoctrinated by the German Labour Front, those who protested against the treatment of the Jewish population or publicly denounced the euthanasia program, those who refused to obey criminal orders, those who as a powerless protest against Nazi war policies daubed slogans on walls at night-time, those who protected the persecuted and shared their ration cards with them-in a wider sense they all belonged to the resistance” [11] To summarize, there was far more objection to the ideas and functioning of NSDAP and Nazism in Germany, by the Germans, than it is conventionally believed.

4.1

Today, apart from the NSDAP party leaders, a lot of criticism has been given to the ordinary citizens living in Germany at that time, owing to either giving unconditional support or even just not speaking against the regime. It is only in the last few decades it has been better realized that there were far more people against the NSDAP that it was earlier imagined. German “Widerstand gegen den Nationalsozialismus” was the opposition by individuals and groups in Germany to the Nazi regime. Pretty much throughout the entire period of power of NSDAP, from 1933 to 1945, there had always been resistance operations running in parallel. The three largest groups participating in resistance against the Nazi regime were the Social Democrats, Communists, and industrial workers. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) was banned in 1933 along with all other political parties, but its exiled leadership and activists inside Germany continued to oppose the Nazi regime. A much greater level of active resistance to Nazi rule was offered by the Communist Party (KPD), which undertook extensive underground resistance against Nazism after its suppression in 1933. Industrial workers were a third group to offer resistance to the Nazi regime. Additionally, there were numerous smaller groups comprised of youth, students, church

GERMAN RESISTANCE TO NSDAP

Approximately 77,000 German citizens were killed for one or another form of resistance by Special Courts, courts-martial, People’s Courts and the civil justice system. Many of these Germans had served in government, the military, or in civil positions, which enabled them to engage in subversion and conspiracy; in addition, there were unspecified “tens of thousands” in Nazi concentration camps who were either suspected of or actually engaged in opposition. [10]

What immediately also followed the formation of DDR, was the inception of State Security Service (Staatssicherheitsdienst, SSD), commonly known as the Stasi. It was an intelligence and counter-intelligence agency and police force, and one of its main tasks was spying on GDR’s own population, mainly through controversial means like a vast network of privacybreaching multimedia surveillance, citizens turned informants, and fighting any opposition by overt and covert measures, including hidden psychological destruction of dissidents. It arrested around 250,000 people as political prisoners during its existence.

In the aftermath of World War II, Germany and its capital Berlin were divided into eastern and western halves. The Soviet occupation zone in eastern Germany became the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik), and East Berlin respectively, on October 7, 1949. The rest of West Germany and Berlin was

SED’s major advances were in the form of promoting

somewhat equally occupied by the three allied nations of America, France, and Great Britain. The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was founded on 21st April 1946 by a forced unification of the Communist Party of Germany (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands or KPD) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands or SPD), strongly based on Marxist–Leninist political principals. While the two parties did not exactly see eye to eye, they recognized that a merger was the most effective way for them to have any real influence on policy. The GDR was a one-party state but other institutional popular front parties were permitted to exist in alliance with the SED.

education while discouraging religion, the creation of mass organizations, emphasis on heavy industries, and collectivization of agriculture. As a result of these notorious policies and political motives, East Germany never attained real success or legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens, fell farther and farther behind economically, and had to eventually use force to prevent its population from fleeing the state. On the other hand, West Germany was resoundingly successful. Within two decades of defeat, it had become one of the world’s richest nations, with prosperity that extended to all segments of the population. This disparity eventually led to the fall of DDR in 1989.

GERMAN RESISTANCE -SED

ORIGINS OF SED

movement created an atmosphere that paved the way for the peaceful revolution of 1989.” [12]

The virtual absence to freedom of speech, excruciating invasive surveillance, unstable market, economy and jobs, and interference by Stasi, were just a few of the factors that were pushing the people to escape, help others to escape, or show their discontent in more and more bold means. COMPARING THE TWO RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS The NSDAP regime was a highly bipolar one. On one side was complete and absolute discrimination against Jews and some other minorities, while the rest of the citizens enjoyed as much of freedom and resources as the government could afford while funding a World War. As long as they are in absolute support of the government. With the entire state and even many citizens against them, it was incredibly difficult and a great risk for execution of any and every kind of resistance operation as the punishments very severe. On the other hand, during SED there was no fascism or intense discrimination on the basis of race, but rather all citizens where under scrutiny, and any form of even minor political questioning was taken very seriously. The system of infiltrating the society through secret informants created a very difficult atmosphere of distrust, no matter what the relation might be. The physical barriers between East and West Germany added more fuel to the fire of discontent. This time the resistance was much more widespread and persecution was relatively less harsh owing to more awareness, media, education and globalization. It might also be valid to say that this time the resistance had a more observable effect.

GERMAN RESISTANCE TO SED

GERMAN RESISTANCE TO SED There was a rebellion against the SED regime in all its phases. Not every citizen subjected themselves to the communist dictatorship after the war and many professed to their own traditions. Consequently, many social democrats rebelled against the forged merger of their party with the KPD to form the SED. The civil parties protested against the forcible-coordination of the parties and mass organizations. Students rebelled against the sovietisation of their schools and universities. The church remained a stronghold of resistance until the end of the GDR, as they often denied access to the state power. Groups opposing the state found shelter and support in many church communities.The failure of the uprising on the 17th of June 1953, which was brutally crushed by Soviet troops, and the construction of the Wall 1961 made the people lose confidence in being able to cause a fall of the SED regime for a moment. Many people, about three million in total, left the DDR frustrated and disappointed; many illegally and at a great risk, which also led to a decline in the opposition. Between 600 and 800 people alone, lost their lives while attempting to escape. The civil rights activists in East Germany campaigned constantly for reforms. “As the Cold War heated up at the beginning of the 1980s, the peace movement grew in both the German Republics. In the GDR, this meant not only fighting for peace but also opposing the government. The Eastern German peace movement, that now also incorporated the protestant church, joined forces with the environmental and anti-nuclear movement. The common enemy for all of these opposing forces was the SED and its oppressive regime. Sparked by singular events and people, finally, the opposing resistance

4.2

Harald Hauswald,

November 1989, Berlin

Agentur Ostkreuz Berlin

Arest of Nazi opponents by the SA

Martin Bormann, Hermann Göring, and Bruno Loerzer surveying

(Storm Troopers) of NSDAP, March 1953

the damaged conference room after the failed 20 July attack.

Bundersrchive

GERMAN RESISTANCE

dw.com

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The NSDAP and SED were two of the darkest chapters in the history of Germany. The ghosts and guilt from actions of people many generations ago still haunt the German people. In today’s world, where there is a constant push against racism, judging any individual irrespective of any attribute that they were born with, and stereotypes are strongly frowned upon, why is this guilt still so localized? Moreover, there are stories of thousands of resistance members, who were rampantly suppressed at the time, and whose memories and stories are gathering dust in books and are being exponentially forgotten in the minds of people since then.

I think Historical Prison Museums are interesting as they are one of the very few surviving, tangible links that have survived the test of time and can provide us physical a way of connecting with the innocent people who were imprisoned there. It is also a learning experience for lawmakers today to know the importance of their task and learn from mistakes made by those in the past. During my visit to more than a dozen Historical Prison Museums in the last 2 years, I came across so many such stories that do not get many mentions, which can alter our perception about the history, and also the possibilities of the present and future. In addition, though it is quite assuring to see a lot of resources and energy spent by Cultural Foundation of the respective countries, on the funding of these Prison Museums, it is equally disheartening to see the general disinterest and low number of visitors. The questions that I have been asking myself form the base of this Design Thesis Study:

Q.2 How can we, through design, revive the stories of countless innocent but brave German Resistance Fighters who suffered and dedicated their lives in order to free the country from totalitarian regimes?

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Q.1 How can we promote our Historical Prison Museums as a means to sensitize people towards changes of political shifts that precede evolution of discriminatory and oppressive policies?

WHO NEEDS TO SEE THIS AND WHY?

“Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it” In connection with the events of the Second World War, few things ever said have more meaning and relevance than this one by George Santayana. However, this is quoted quite often, and if you have read this multiple times before, chances are that it no more makes the same impact on you. A fact remains, that no matter how important a story is or how often it needs to be told, if it is continued to be told in the same repetitive way from a single viewpoint, it loses its connotations.

That is human nature, of ‘accepting’ and ‘moving on’; which in most cases is an asset but sometimes there remains a danger of that happening too much and too soon. Hence, I believe that for a story and a lesson this important, we will have to constantly keep finding new ways, means, and perspectives to narrate it so that it can engage as many minds at every point in time as possible. My project is another way of doing that. Through this project, I will try to highlight two Historical prisons in Potsdam; Leistikowstraße and Gedenkstätte Lindenstraße, beginning after the interview with six stories of people who were incarcerated by NSDAP or SED at these prisons.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The way to express a painful, traumatic subject like the Holocaust in visual terms relies on changing the exhibition’s philosophical perspective. Evil can serve as the framework for understanding the context in which events took place, but also how each person can turn to the “dark side” if he fails to maintain moral, humanistic values. Many, if not all of the Jews, demonstrated extraordinarily humane behavior along the road to annihilation. As curators, memory agents, and keepers of the legacy of the Holocaust, we must take up the banner of “seeing the ‘other’” in the Holocaust and show its relevance today, in relation to racists and their actions. To accomplish this, we must use what I call our “museological toolbox” or forge new and perhaps more relevant tools. This is the way to continue and contribute to commemorating the Holocaust in the most humane and moral way possible. [13]

5.1

I got a chance to get in touch with Amélie zu Eulenburg, who is the Research Associate at Lindenstraße Prison Memorial Foundation. She has been researching and writing papers on the theme of GDR Politics and she also has experience in the field of curating exhibitions on the similar theme, making her an ideal person to get inputs for this project. Below are some of her answers from my interview with her.

INTERVIEW WITH MUSEUM RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Q2. How is ths foundation financed and how are some other foundations like this financed in Germany?

I got a Master degree in history, In my master thesis I wrote about GDR-Political Culture and personality cult in 2011. After my studies I made a two years trainee program in museum science and curating at the memorial Ravensbrück, a former women concentration camp, today a memorial and museum. After several different jobs in museums, where I curated exhibitions, I started to work in the Memorial foundation Lindenstraße in 2016 to hold the archive, the research and elaborate exhibitions. Since 2016 the memorial museum had been converted into a private foundation that receives is funding from the city of Potsdam as well as the federal state of Brandenburg.

The German ministry of culture has formulated the “Bundesgedenkstättenkonzeptio” in the year 1999 which had been further developed in 2008. In all 15 of the 16 federal states of Germany, except the Federal State of Mecklenburg Vorpommern exists a memorial foundation, that is responsible for memorials of the Nazi, Soviet or GDR past, that includes prison museums as well. Some of the prison museums, like Lindenstraße are financed by the federal state itself and by the city of their location or receive different fundings. Though the memorial Lindenstraße received amounts of money from the FRG for exhibitions and restorations between 2013-15. So do other prison museums in Germany for example the NS-Dok in Cologne and the Prison Museum in Wolfenbüttel.

INTERVIEW

Q1. Why and how did you choose to work/research for Memorial foundation Lindenstraße?

The Memorial Museum Lindenstraße receives visitors in a medium and higher level compared to other memorial prison museum of its seize. There is one person employed in public relation who is responsible for the official promotion such as Newsletters, Newspapers, Web page, Facebook, Television. Q.4 What else in your opinion can the ministry of culture further do to preserve this heritage and stories of people associated with it?

“I think the key to understand political resistance is ‘exact knowledge’; the reflection on historical sources make visitors sensitive to changes of political shifts such as legislative change or social change that have basic effects on the justice system and prison system of a society.” That includes biographical knowledge about people who hat the guts to stand up for their right or help other people to survive; not to worship them, but to perceive their biographies including all fractures, contradictions and unexplained aspects.

Q.3 Do you think the museum receives the expected number of visitors? H ave you done some promotion in the past or are you planning to do it in the future?

Q.5. Do you have anymore suggestion or comments in relation to the research questions that I have proposed in the Expose? And also anything more than you would like to share from your experience so far working with this museum foundation. Prison museums can be a place for discussion and research on the history of Police-laws, state of exception. A prison system mirrors the image of people in a society respective to its political system. This is also true for the official interpretation and memorization of the prison system. How a state and social groups remember their violent past or not has much input on the actual self-image of a society. So the violent past can be moralized as well as trivialized. Clear research standards help guarantee the removal of assumptions, the development of myth, and instrumentation of the past.

(Still awaiting answers for following statistical questions) Q.6 Who are the usual visitors that you get? (Age group, nationalities, residents during DDR, etc) Q.7 What percentage of the visitors are from organized/group trips? Q.8 How much average time do visitors spend in the museum?

INTERVIEW WITH MUSEUM RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

The ministry does a lot and gives funding for interesting research projects that are elaborated by the staff of the prison museums.

6.1

August Bonness 1890 Dessau - 1944 Brandenburg-Görden

Günter Naumann 1922 Luckenwalde - 1945 Liberated from Lindenstraße

He strictly prohibited printing any NSDAP propaganda. Bonness was critical of Nazi politics in a Potsdam casino company that was frequented by German-national citizens; and there he gained some unfavorable attention.

At just 22, Naumann joined “Gemeinschaft für Frieden und Aufbau” (Community for Peace and Development). The group, at great personal risk hid persecuted Jews and distributed leaflets to stop the war and the Holocaust.

Son of the founder of the same name at Bonnes & Hachfeld, August Bonness ran the famous publishing house in Potsdam largely shaping Potsdam’s cultural and intellectual life. His refusal to publish NSDAP propaganda resulted in his arrest and eventually the famous Nazi judge Roland Freisler led the lawsuit against him which ended in his execution at Brandenburg-Görden in 1944.

Naumann worked as an industrial clerk in his parents’ metal-working factory before he joined the resistance group. Apart from working on leaflets, he also hid and protected a Jewish couple risking his and his family’s lives. He was arrested in 1944 and then his parents continued to take responsibility of the couple who eventually survived the holocaust.

MEMOIRS OF RESISTANCE MEMBERS

39 Eike Radewahn 1964 Magdeburg

During the 1936 Olympic Games he secretly distributed anti-Nazi leaflets. While returning from European Wrestling Championships of 1937 and 1938, in Paris and Tallinn, he managed to smuggle in resistance literature.

In November 1984, together with two friends, she tried to cross the Danube river in Romania in order to reach what was then Yugoslavia on the opposite side. The attempt to escape failed, and she was sentenced for three years.

A member of KPD since 1928, Werner was a six-time German champion in wrestling from 1933 to 1941. He joined the resistance group in late 1930s. In February 1942 he was arrest along with other members and jailed at various prisons including Lindenstraße. In 1944, he and 5 others were accused for “preparation of high treason” and were eventually executed.

During school and apprenticeship, she came into conflict with the state system because of her basic pacifist attitude. She was threatened that she would not be able to get an apprenticeship if she did not join the FDJ and evade military training. She suffered through physical and sexual assault after the her arrest in 1984.

MEMOIRS OF RESISTANCE MEMBERS

Werner Seelenbinder 1904 Stettin - 1944 Brandenburg-Görden

6.1

40 Rudi Richter 1926

At 18, his first attempt to flee DDR fails and he is sent for 10 months probation. Eventually, he perfects his strategies and in the end he is able to help 33 people leave East Germany, before finally getting caught while helping her own sister.

1952 Rudi Richter was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was transferred from Potsdam to the Soviet Gulag. He had to work on the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway in camps around Tayshet.

On the night of March 3, 1975, Hartmut Richter wanted to help his sister and her fiancé escape to West Berlin in the trunk of his car. The vehicle is stopped at the Drewitz border crossing and the Stasi carries out a suspicious activity check. Both refugees and the escape assistant are arrested and detained in the Stasi remand prison in Potsdam.

Rudi Richter was a member of Grossenhein resistance group “Albatross”. It belonged to the battle group against inhumanity (KgU). The anti-communist organization founded in West Berlin in 1948 initially worked as a tracing service for citizens arrested by the Soviet occupying powers. They were increasingly active in intelligence and committed acts of sabotage in the GDR All information from Leistikowstraße and Gedenkstätte Lindenstraße Memorial Exhibitons

MEMOIRS OF RESISTANCE MEMBERS

Hartmut Richter 1948 Glindow

‘VERGESSENE ECKEN’

such a way that a simple physical and technical setup can define this installation, I would like to maximize the ease and number of places that this model could be easily recreated. I soon realized that three adjoining surfaces along the three major axes (X, Y and Z) already form a sort of

The name of the installation ‘Vergessene Ecken” (Forgotten Corners) is both literal and metaphorical. The installation is literally comprised of a physical corner, but also reminds how the stories of resistance fighters are lost in forgotten corners of memories of the people. And lastly, also how Historical Prison museums are lost and forgotten corners of history and memory in terms of buildings.

Museums, I was always in awe with the spaces; especially the interiors. They are like physical imprints of the extreme stories that have unfolded in those spaces through many decades. One can see a large number of details that are normally not seen in any other buildings. Every ordinary element of a building is usually designed differently inside a prison so as to make the task easier in one way or the other for the authority running the prison. Also interesting are the different scales observed in the prisons. From the largest and highest imposing prison buildings, to the claustrophobic solitary confinement cells, scale is an important experiential factor of prisons. I made several attempts in order to capture these elements but the usual formats never did justice to the reality. My aim then was to design an installation, that helps visualize in some part the actual experience of visiting these prison museums. The installation had to be life size for maximum impact, while being less complicated to install. I realized Projection Mapping could be the best tool for me to develop this installation. By designing in

immersive enclosure. I began experimenting with taking images on site in a way that I can later reduce them to 3 planes. With carefully designed images and when these surfaces are big enough (in relation to human anthropometry), they can provide an illusion of the person actually being in the projected space. The good part about this format, is also that any three plain walls of a decently sized room can form a backdrop for this installation. I decided to keep the planes to be squares so as to ensure maximum compatibility with rooms of different sizes and proportions. Combined with a correctly aligned projector and the visuals, the setup for the installation gets completed. Also I wanted to design this book in a way that those visuals can become a part of it and gives the viewer an idea of how the actual installation is designed. On the opposite pages are some conceptual sketches for the installation and the book, which are finally followed by 6 views of the prisons in Potsdam, the way they will be projected in the installation.

CONCEPT FOR ‘VERGESSENE ECKEN’

During my visits to the various Historical Prison

7.1

42 Approximate Field of vision

Initial Book Design

Translation to Book

Final Book Design

‘VERGESSENE ECKEN’

Projection Mapping

Idea for Installation

[14]

END NOTES

Some of us might be one of the above. Many of us might know someone who is one of the above. All of us get a say in deciding who constitutes the above. During NSDAP, the state decided to label the Jews and minorities “enemies of the state” without justification. The legislators in GDR decided to implement excruciating surveillance and violently persecute the slightest gestures of political defiance. Stasi, SA, and KGB were all the actual police forces that ran the facilities discussed earlier and committed the atrocities that words cannot explain. And none of these things happened instantly, without any warning. It is extremely alarming when one sees the glimpses of these times in developing and sometimes even highly

developed countries. The lack of freedom of speech in some of the biggest countries like China and Russia, the level of corruption in African and South American countries, the recent implementation of racially discriminatory policies in India, the fight for sovereignty in Hong Kong, are just the tip of the iceberg of examples which is some or the other way mirror the disasters of past. Neither those nor these happened overnight, and if we want to ensure that the worst is actually behind us, it is imperative that we are vigilant and sensitive enough to notice right when such trends start, and continually make our ideals of maintaining peace in the world, reflect in the stands we take and tiniest of the decisions we make.

“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” - Alexander Hamilton

END NOTES

“GOVERNMENT” the group of people with the authority to govern a country or state; a particular ministry in office. “POLICE” the civil force of a state, responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the maintenance of public order. “LEGISLATOR” a person who makes laws; a member of a legislative body.

10.

SOURCES

1. https://www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2019/aug/16/we-know-thatprison-doesnt-work-so-what-are-the-alternatives 2. https://study.com/academy/lesson/functionalismvs-intentionalism-the-holocaust-debatequestions.html 3. https://www.deutschland.de/en/germany-yearusa-20182019-germanys-culture-of-remembrance 4. Faithe McCreery Interpreting Incarceration: How Historical Prison Museums are addressing the Social Aspects of Criminal Justice 5. Y. Kol-Inbar “And who will remember? And how shall we preserve a memory?” New approaches to exhibits on the holocaust 6. Faithe McCreery, Interpreting Incarceration: How Historical Prison Museums are addressing the Social Aspects of Criminal Justice

7. Megan Cullen Tewell, http://articles. themuseumscholar.org/tp_vol1tewell 8. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/naziparty 9. Opposition and Resistance in Nazi Germany – Frank McDonough 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_resistance_ to_Nazism#cite_note-klemperer,4-5-1 11. Hans Mommsen “German Society and Resistance Against Hitler” 12. https://www.kas.de/en/resistance-opposition-andattempts-to-escape-en13. Y. Kol-Inbar “And who will remember? And how shall we preserve a memory?” New approaches to exhibits on the holocaust 14. Getty mages, AP Photo, BB Reuters, STR/AFP via Getty Images, Manish Swarup, Hicks, Kaiser

“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”