Mathausen, 2009

One thought on “Mathausen, 2009”

Yoav Horesh says:

June 3, 2018 at 4:11 pm

The neatly painted green wooden walls bath in the warm sun light, could it be just right after noon? Or maybe just before? The light feathery clouds hover above these lash green trees and grass. The risk of rainfall, snow or anything that will spoil the day is no where to be seen. Even the swept pavement of the sidewalk and yard, cut through with old cracks housing some vegetation enjoy the pleasant light.
We have seen these structures before. For decades they were used for schools and military bases in Europe and the United States. We encountered them in many colors, but with few variations in shapes. They are designed to comfortably accommodate students, workers or soldiers. They provide those residents with large windows to allow plenty of light in, and chimneys for the heating stoves when it’s cold. The sense of warmth and invitation is maintained with the wooden white doors, free from heavy locks that will allow easy and quiet entrance to these living quarters.

But when we add to this lovely scene historical facts, photographs and testimonies, we start to understand the un-comprehendible dichotomy between photography and reality. These beautifully preserved and maintained structures housed tens of thousands of prisoners, slave workers, men and women in unimaginable malnutrition and sickness. These barracks saw torture, inhuman behavior and death. The deaths of possibly hundreds of thousands prisoners that were enslaved in the granite quarries and worked for thousands of German companies during world war II. These people died horrible death while serving the Nazi war machine and these barracks were their homes.

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