Natzweiler: Spuren – Traces | 13. Juni – 4. Juli 2018
Under the patronage of the Ministry of Economics, Labor and Housing of Baden-Württemberg, the exhibition “Spuren/Traces”, which is part of the photo project “Das Konzentrationslager Natzweiler und seine Außenlager auf beiden Seiten des Rheins” / “Camp de concentration Natzweiler et ses camps annexes sur les deux rives du Rhin” [engl.: The Natzweiler Concentration Camp and its subcamps on both sides of the Rhine] as well as the art project “Fraternité / Brüderlichkeit” [engl.: Fraternity] with its accompanying educational project, took place from June 13, 2018 to July 4, 2018, inclusive, at the Haus der Wirtschaft in Stuttgart. During the same period, the parallel exhibition on the French side took place at the CERD-Natzweiler Memorial.
The exhibition showed the joint search for traces of German and French artists, students, memorial site representatives and monument conservators on over 600 square meters. Three parts of the exhibition, ” Erinnerung/Mémoire” [engl: Memory], ” Kunst/Art ” and ” Denkmal/Monument ” introduced the topic of memorial work. Six of the large-format works of art as well as the associated student works were shown, along with the exhibition panels of the student photo project “Natzweiler and subcamps”. A further ten of the large-format paintings were set up in the grounds of the European Centre of Deported Resistance Members (CERD) near the former main camp from June 24, 2018. In addition, information panels and a film about the “Natzweiler subcamps” project, which aims to record the history of the camp, were shown; an accompanying event on June 29 allowed project participants from both countries to speak and exchange views from the perspective of monument preservation, art and memorials.
On Tuesday, June 12, 2018, the exhibition was opened with a ceremony on the European Heritage Label (EHL) at the Haus der Wirtschaft in Stuttgart. In March 2018, 15 memorials at sites of the former concentration camp in Alsace and Baden-Württemberg were awarded the European Heritage Label of the European Union for their cross-border work, which works against the repression and forgetting of this historical heritage of the Nazi era and makes an important contribution to international understanding.
