Just started a portrait project on the wonderful Anti fascist Movement 'Omas Gregen Rechts'- Grandma‘s against the Right. This is my first portrait in Berlin at the weekend. Its ongoing through next year and i‘ll post it as a full feature with words and pictures on my web page when its finished. On a personal level i found it quite inspirational talking with these women as 73 Renate says-'We are the women of the 60‘s and 70‘s generation and we have something to say about the return of Fascism.' #berlin #omasgegenrechts #portrait
The stolperstein art project was initiated by the German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992, and is still ongoing. It aims at commemorating individual persons at exactly the last place of residency—or, sometimes, work—which was freely chosen by the person before he or she fell victim to Nazi terror, euthanasia, eugenics, was deported to a concentration or extermination camp, or escaped persecution by emigration or suicide. As of 31 January 2017, over 56,000 stolpersteine have been laid in 22 European countries, making the stolperstein project the world's largest decentralized memorial.. The majority of stolpersteine commemorate Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Others have been placed for Sinti and Romani people (then also called "gypsies"), homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, black people, members of the Christian opposition (both Protestants and Catholics), Freemasons, the Communist Party and the European anti-Nazi Resistance, military deserters, and the physically or mentally disabled.memorial. The name of the stolperstein project invokes multiple allusions: In Nazi Germany, an antisemitic saying, when accidentally stumbling over a protruding stone, was: "A Jew must be buried here". In a metaphorical sense, the German term Stolperstein can mean "potential problem". The term "to stumble across something", in German and English, can also mean "to find out (by chance)". Thus, the term provocatively invokes an antisemitic remark of the past, but at the same time intends to provoke thoughts about a serious issue. Stolpersteine are not placed prominently, but are rather discovered by chance, only recognizable when passing by at close distance. In contrast to central memorial places, which according to Demnig can be easily avoided or bypassed, stolpersteine represent a much deeper intrusion of memory into everyday life.. #Stolperstein #halle #germany #holocaust #remembrance #memorial
Due to the political climate at present I find myself covering a lot of protests/demonstrations from the Far Right here in Germany. This from the weekend. AfD protesters clap a speech at an AfD (Alternative for Deutschland) demonstration at Köthen, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It follows the death of a 22 German man earlier in the week after and altercation with 2 Afghan refugees who are now in Police custody. It seems to be the tactic being used at present. Any crime perceived as involving refugees will be used as a rallying call to all the Far Right and Neo Nazi groups to descend on the town and city.
Graffiti Artist Dennis Mandairine in Halle Saale, Germany.
I was working towards the end of last week with The Daily Telegraph in Chemnitz in Eastern Germany for a couple of days. This was one of the images i took of the Far Right Demonstrations. A demonstrator at the the right wing 'Pro Chemnitz' rally taking place at Gellerts Strasse outside the Chemnitz Football Club‘s ground has 'HATE 'tatooed on his hand as he holds a banner showing the Deutsch Flag. Roughly 1000 people attended the demonstration on Friday at the football ground sparked by the murder of a 35 year old German man , Daniel Hillig, believed to have been carried out by 2 non German nationals who are now under arrest. It seems the muder of Mr Hillig was the pretext for various groups of far right and neo Nazi's to descend on Chemnitz from the surrounding region and use the murder as a rallying point for anti foreign sentiment.