Local rubble was the prerequisite for the work of art by Walter Kuhn: From it he grows two large, red flowers.
Wolfratshausen
- Around the bathhouse in Waldram, 70 “reminder flowers” remind of the victims of the Holocaust and the Second World War.
Walter Kuhn's art installation was unveiled a few days ago.
Almost unnoticed, the renowned artist gave the place of remembrance another gift: "New life from the rubble" is the name of the sculpture that can be seen through the window front in the foyer of the currently closed museum.
It is a disc divided into 13 sections, which is labeled with the years from 1933 (seizure of power by the National Socialists) to 1945 (end of the war).
Construction rubble that was found in the vicinity of the bathhouse is layered on it.
Wolfgang Saal, head of the settlement community and long-time member of the Badehaus-Verein, helped the artist, who was born in Nuremberg in 1946, “to collect symbolic rubble from Waldram”.
According to his own statement, Saal found "red perforated bricks in imperial format, from which the walls of the Föhrenwald houses were once built up, and clinker bricks that served as chimney facing".
Hall in Waldram also came across so-called Hitlerite concrete, which was once used for bunkers.
It is a "concrete mix that was said to be very resistant, but which was ultimately broken".
Remains of the former tiled roof protrude from the rubble, which was left over from the renovation of the bathhouse or its conversion into a documentation center.
Saal was also able to integrate a personal reference into the work of art: "A floor slab that was laid in the pantry of my parents' house."
New life blooms from the ruins
Charred remains of books and barbed wire "create a connection to the mental and physical suffering of those who had to experience forced labor and the concentration camp," explains Saal.
Some of these people - "the rest of the saved" - found refuge in today's Waldram.
“This enabled this place to become a place of hope for new life.” In Kuhn's sculpture, this aspect is illustrated by two red artificial silk flowers.
The work can be seen in the foyer until May 8th.
Hall: “We are currently considering where we can then build it up permanently.”
Dominik Stallein