Christian Gmeiner
:
STALAG XVII B
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Christian Gmeiner marked out the grounds of the largest prisoner of war camp from the Nazi era in Austria. On each of the former corner posts there is a signpost into which a large question mark has been cut. Another signpost bears the word 'remember' in the respective languages of all of the internees.
In a number of projects, Christian Gmeiner has worked with the former Detention Camp STALAG XVII B in Krems-Gneixendorf. In this piece, created in 2000, he has mounted plaques on the grounds of the former camp which today is used for various purposes, i.e., as a landing strip for sport planes, agriculture and garbage dump. A large question mark has been inscribed on these signs that designate each of the four former corners of the camp. STALAG XVII B, the largest Austrian prisoner of war camp from the Nazi period, was 1 square kilometre large and had a square layout. In the way the town presently uses grounds the history of the camp is allowed to vanish. Gmeiner seeks to draw attention to the area by means of the plaques at the corners and thus symbolically restores its history also by virtue of the fact that the size of the plaques (1 m2) relates to the actual size of the camp. Gmeiner uses a further plaque to designate the camp cemetery, while yet another plaque depicts the word “remembering” in the languages of all the inmates detained here.
(Susanne Neuburger)
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