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Holocaust memorial replica stunt shines light on rightwing radicalism in Germany
Source: The Guardian
Holocaust memorial replica stunt shines light on rightwing radicalism in Germany
Art collective likened to ‘terrorist organisation’ by far-right politician Björn Hocke
Philip Oltermann in Berlin
Sun 7 Apr 2019 17.20 BST Last modified on Sun 7 Apr 2019 17.34 BST
When a group of performance artists erected a replica of Berlin’s Holocaust memorial next to the home of a far-right politician, they were hoping to draw attention to the revisionist views of a rising figure on Germany’s nationalist right.
But as the collective finds itself targeted by the first criminal investigation of its kind against a group of artists in modern German history, their stunt is instead putting the spotlight on the proximity between far-right politics and the public servants in formerly Communist east German states.
In November 2017, art collective Centre for Political Beauty had erected a replica of Berlin’s Holocaust memorial next to the home of Björn Höcke, a leading far-right politician from the Alternative für Deutschland party who has called on Germans to stop atoning for the crimes of the Nazi era.
Höcke, who has dismissed architect Peter Eisenman’s original Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe as “a monument of shame”, unsuccessfully tried to launch criminal proceedings against the artists’ replica, which remains in situ next to his home in Bornhagen, Thuringia.
However, a route parliamentary question by leftwing party Die Linke revealed last week that the state prosecutor in the east German state has for the last 16 months been investigating the art collective’s artistic director, on suspicion of “forming a criminal association”.
-snip-
Art collective likened to ‘terrorist organisation’ by far-right politician Björn Hocke
Philip Oltermann in Berlin
Sun 7 Apr 2019 17.20 BST Last modified on Sun 7 Apr 2019 17.34 BST
When a group of performance artists erected a replica of Berlin’s Holocaust memorial next to the home of a far-right politician, they were hoping to draw attention to the revisionist views of a rising figure on Germany’s nationalist right.
But as the collective finds itself targeted by the first criminal investigation of its kind against a group of artists in modern German history, their stunt is instead putting the spotlight on the proximity between far-right politics and the public servants in formerly Communist east German states.
In November 2017, art collective Centre for Political Beauty had erected a replica of Berlin’s Holocaust memorial next to the home of Björn Höcke, a leading far-right politician from the Alternative für Deutschland party who has called on Germans to stop atoning for the crimes of the Nazi era.
Höcke, who has dismissed architect Peter Eisenman’s original Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe as “a monument of shame”, unsuccessfully tried to launch criminal proceedings against the artists’ replica, which remains in situ next to his home in Bornhagen, Thuringia.
However, a route parliamentary question by leftwing party Die Linke revealed last week that the state prosecutor in the east German state has for the last 16 months been investigating the art collective’s artistic director, on suspicion of “forming a criminal association”.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/07/holocaust-memorial-replica-stunt-shines-light-on-rightwing-radicalism-in-germany
