The artist Martin Krenn, in collaboration with RAHM architekten, responds to the ‘Friedenskreuz St. Lorenz’ (Peace Cross St. Lorenz)—erected in the 1960s—with a memorial that demands critical engagement with the Nazi past. The cross, which was supplemented after 2004 with symbolically loaded paraphernalia such as Wehrmacht helmets and a laurel wreath, is dedicated to the Jockisch task force—a unit of the Wehrmacht deployed in former Yugoslavia during the Second World War. In particular, during 1943 this unit was engaged in almost daily battles with Partisans. So-called retaliatory measures saw entire villages raised to the ground, hostages taken and civilians murdered. ‘Deutsche Eicheln 1933’, the photo montage that Martin Krenn has mounted in front of the cross was made in 1933 by artist John Heartfield and intended to be a warning against the rearmament of the Wehrmacht by the Nazis and their own self-glorification. The memorial is augmented by five collages produced by local students during a workshop that took place over a period of six months.
Concept, realisation:
Martin Krenn in collaboration with RAHM architekten
Photo montage mounted on the cross:
John Heartfield, „Deutsche Eicheln 1933“, 1933 © Bildrecht, Wien 2015 | © copyright, Vienna 2015, Quelle | source: Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Kunstsammlung, HeartfieldArchiv
Collages in front of the cross: Cornelia Braith, Belma Cavalic, Mernama Cavalic, Katrin Gerstbauer, AnnaMaria Glück, Marlene Harrer, Karin Herndler, Salie Jiang, Anna Koppensteiner, Tamara Kreibich, Julia Lang, Marlene Mathes, Claudia Mayerhofer, Iris Neubauer, Bernadette Pachschwöll, Petra Palmeshofer, Nicole Scharl, Daniela Walzer, Bianca Weber (Students of the HLM HLW Krems)
School project, concept and supervision: Gregor Kremser, Martin Krenn
Unveiling of the memorial: Sunday, 3. April 2016, 2.30 pm St. Lorenz
The artist Martin Krenn responds to the ‘Friedenskreuz St. Lorenz’ (Peace Cross St. Lorenz)—erected in the 1960s—with a memorial that demands critical engagement with the Nazi past.
Susanne Scholl lead through the opening and talk with
Erich Polz, Bürgermeister Marktgemeinde Rossatz-Arnsdorf Gregor Kremser, Kunstvermittler und Autor
Robert Streibel, Historiker
Martin Krenn, Künstler
John J Heartfield, Enkel des Künstlers John Heartfield
Cornelia Offergeld, Kunsthistorikerin Landesrätin
Barbara Schwarz, in Vertretung von Landeshauptmann Erwin Pröll
Bläserquartett Rossatz
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- Construction
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- Memorial (Deutsche Eicheln)
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- Memorial (Deutsche Eicheln)
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- Memorial back
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- Memorial (Deutsche Eicheln)
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- Veiled
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- Work by students of the HLM HLW Krems
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- Work by students of the HLM HLW Krems
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- Work by students of the HLM HLW Krems
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- Work by students of the HLM HLW Krems
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- Work by students of the HLM HLW Krems
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- Info panel
