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ERINNERUNG.EREIGNIS.KUNST.
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On May 8 1945, US-Army Major General Stanley E. Reinhart and Major General Dmitrii A. Drichkin of the Red Army met in a private residence in Erlauf, Lower Austria. They celebrated V.E. day, the allied victory over Hitler’s troops in Europe. This event was the first official meeting of Soviets and Americans on Austrian soil. After a later famous handshake one minute after midnight, the war in Europe was over.
This historical event became the starting point for decades of academic and artistic examination contributing to the formation of Erlauf’s specific identity as a “Community of Peace”. For the first time, this exhibition is presenting and documenting this debate on memory, conflict and the history of the region.
The exhibition’s three main chapters ERINNERUNG (memory), EREIGNIS (event) and KUNST (art) are offering new insight into Erlauf’s specific history using photographs, documents, objects as well as original sound and video sources. The first part, ERINNERUNG, deals with the origins and developments surrounding Erlauf’s specific commemorative culture. It presents how the forgotten story about the historical event surrounding the generals’ late night meeting returned to Erlauf in the 1960s and introduces the visitors into the various rituals of remembrance that evolved in the following decades.
The EREIGNIS – the EVENT itself – is presented in the core of the exhibition. Photographs and other historical documents help to visualize the meeting of May 8 and address the circumstances of a town and region during World War II: the paths of the allied forces to the heart of Austria, the confiscation of Jewish property and the fate of Erlauf’s Jewish community, or, later, the everyday life under Soviet occupation. The chapter KUNST documents the commissioning and production of Erlauf’s works of public art as well as the effect these interventions had on the community. The implementation of the two permanent peace monuments by Jenny Holzer and Oleg Komov in the city center in 1995 (50 years after the end of World War 2) served as point of origin for a new and different form of exploration of history and the policy of memory. Curated by Hedwig Saxenhuber, two projects called "Erlauf erinnert sich…" in 2000 and 2002 examined current social practices while referring to Erlauf’s specific history and memorial policy. 2005, 60 years after the meeting of the two generals, the composer Konrad Rennert cooperated with musician Katharina Wurglits and the people of Erlauf to create his konzertantes Harmonie-Experiment "AMF – Allied Musical Forces Erlauf. Ein Konzert für den Frieden". The one-hour documentary “Die Ohren wachsen” by filmmaker Ulrike Schweiger presented the result of this cooperation.
Contributors
- Kuration
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