Asking Questions
Based on the question of how the descendants of Nazi perpetrators deal with their history, Klub Zwei artists Simone Bader and Jo Schmeiser collaborated with engaged students at the BORG secondary school in Scheibbs in a workshop, in which they realized a poster and a series of postcards.
The postcards show eight places in Scheibbs that are linked to the Nazi era and its remembrance. During the workshop the students researched, photographed, and worked on finding and phrasing a question for each of the places. The questions are addressed to the people of Scheibbs, and will hopefully generate some discussion and possible answers:
Who are the victims?
What are their names?
Who rendered them victims?
Where are the names to be found of those killed by the Nazis?
Can war criminals also be honored?
How could (or can) you do this to your neighbors?
Do you accept the admonishment?
How much further would we have gone?
The poster comprises all of these questions compounded with the fundamental question of how the descendants of the perpetrators deal with the Nazi era today. The poster will be exhibited in the town of Scheibbs along the Sandsteg, a pedestrian bridge over the Erlauf river, from 8 September to 2 October 2006. The postcards will be distributed in various public areas throughout Scheibbs.
A Klub Zwei (Simone Bader and Jo Schmeiser) project in collaboration with Birgit Egger, Helmut Gugerell, Natascha Huber, Magdalena Kowall, Andrea und Verena Latschbacher, Katharina Leichtfried, Klaudia Rottenschlager, Bianca Stamminger, Karina Steiner from the BORG secondary school Scheibbs, 2006.
Re: Scheibbs. Living in an Austrian town. A kunst im öffentlichen raum niederösterreich (art in public spaces lower austria) project in collaboration with scheibbs.impuls.kultur
For further reading, see: Mulley, Klaus-Dieter: Nationalsozialismus im politischen Bezirk Scheibbs 1930 –1945. (Scheibbs 1988)
Translation: Erika Doucette
