Mandy Gehrt: Pieces of Heritage

“When I photographed the monument on the Rathausplatz in Markkleeberg in the summer of 2012, the inscription DIE TOTEN MAHNEN (the dead admonish) and the fire bowl had been dismantled for some time. The grey cement block with the red triangle had stood for more than 20 years, reduced to geometric forms, empty of content in a public space as a testimony to a past culture of remembrance, past rituals and ideologies. This orphaned monument of warning was the basis for an artistic treatment of different forms and aspects of remembrance and thought of the crime of National Socialism, using the Buchenwald external concentration camp in Markkleeberg as an example.” Mandy Gehrt