TRACES OF THE PAST

HARMEN DE HOOP – TRACES OF THE PAST

INTERVENTIONS – PHOTOS – TEXTS

Can we ever know the past
or are there just fragments and stories?

HISTORY & IDENTITY

TRACES OF THE PAST #17 – COLMAR, 2020
Do the citizens of Colmar see themselves as French or German? The French conquered the city in 1673, the Germans took it in 1871, it became French again in 1919, German in 1940, and French in 1945. So which army left these rifles behind? Were the young men of Colmar again and again conscripted into a foreign army against their will? Did they believe in the wars they had to fight?

HISTORY & ETHICS

On March 16, 1945, a month after the annihilation of Dresden, English bombers destroyed Würzburg in the same way. First heavy bombs were used to destroy the roofs of the old town, than 300,000 incendiary bombs were dropped to create a firestorm that raged at temperatures up to 2000°C, and destroyed 90% of the city centre. Over 3,700 of the 5,000 casualties were women and children, most of them painfully burned to death. Initially, the English believed that bombing German cities would force Germany to surrender, but it didn’t, it just transformed a magnificent mecca of culture and art into 2,5 million cubic meters of rubble. I think the bombing of those medieval city centres was an unforgivable war crime.

TRACES OF THE PAST #26 – STRASBOURG, 2020
Was it just vandalism? Or was it a clear case of anti-Semitic aggression directed at the emblem of the State of Israel, the seven-branched menorah? Is Arab hostility towards Jews anti-Semitic or just a political thing? Is it possible to discuss Israel’s human rights record without being called anti-Semitic? They say anti-Semitism is rife amongst young Muslim men. Yes, it is true that Muslim extremists have been responsible for some of the anti-Jewish attacks in Europe, but Muslim organizations firmly condemned such actions. Is violence ever a legitimate form of protest? Well, maybe in this case it was just kids having fun smashing windows….

CULTURE & POLITICS

TRACES OF THE PAST #25 – OLTEN, 2020  
Paths of Glory is a 1957 film directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Kirk Douglas. From 1957 to 1975 the film was banned in France because of its critical depiction of the French army during World War I. Germany banned the film from 1957 to 1959 ‘to avoid straining relations with France’, and somewhat surprisingly even Switzerland banned the film as ‘incontestably offensive’ to France, her judicial system and her army, until 1970. What was so offensive? It tells the true story of three randomly-chosen French soldiers who were executed for cowardice, just to cover up the failures of the French military and bureaucratic authorities. The film is considered one of Stanley Kubrick’s best.

TRACES OF THE PAST #28 – AACHEN, 2020
Thalidomide (brand name Contergan, Softenon) had been prescribed in the late 1950s and early 1960s to pregnant women to help reduce morning sickness, but tragically, it turned out to be toxic to developing fetuses. Worldwide, an estimated 24,000 babies were born with short arms, twisted hands and no thumbs. The thalidomide tragedy is probably one of the greatest pharmaceutical disasters of all time. In November 1961, the Grünenthal company withdrew the drug from the market, but thalidomide never disappeared, it is available now for treating leprosy and as an anticancer drug.

CULTURE & FAME

TRACES OF THE PAST #29 – AMSTERDAM, 2020
Phil Ochs (1940 – 1976) was an American protest singer and a political activist. He was part of the 1960s counterculture and performed endlessly at civil rights rallies and anti-war demonstrations. He released eight albums in the 1960s and 1970s, but was unhappy that his work was not receiving the popular success he had hoped for. Depressed by this lack of widespread appreciation and suffering from writer’s block his drinking became more and more of a problem. He committed suicide in 1976 at the age of 35.

TRACES OF THE PAST #40 – AMSTERDAM, 2020
Is classical music still part of the school curriculum? There is also ‘the unintended curriculum’: the lessons that arise from the culture of the school and the behaviors, attitudes, and expectations that characterize that culture. Does that mean that students of a ‘white’ school get to know Beethoven, but the students of a ‘black’ school are not? And what happens when a school slowly becomes more and more multi-ethnic? Does that change the knowledge and skills that the school expects successful students to acquire? Less Beethoven and more Beyoncé? Long ago classical music was part of a good upbringing, but how many children are now introduced to classical music? Classical music has unfortunately become associated with the intellectual elite. How long will it take before Beethoven ends up on the trash heap of history?