BURKHARD SCHITTNY, Fineart

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JJJ
LEGACY PROJECTS 2023

Slide installation / Kodak Carousel / 80 35-mm slides / Loop: 10 min 30 s / b/w /
Plinth-mounted / Dimensions variable

INTRODUCTION
The projection alternately displays the names “Josef ” and “Jürgen”, initially in identical font sizes. Over the course of 80 projected slides, “Josef ” gradually diminishes until it becomes illegible, while “Jürgen” continuously increases in size and eventually extends beyond the frame.

In 1941, SS-Gruppenführer and Lieutenant General of Police Jürgen Stroop changed his biblical first name of Hebrew origin, “Josef ”, to “Jürgen” for ideological reasons and in memory of his deceased son. Jews in Nazi Germany, by contrast, were legally required to adopt the additional first names “Israel” or “Sara”.

Originally conceived as a site-specific project for Wiesbaden, the work refers to Stroop’s appointment there as Higher SS and Police Leader for the Rhein-Westmark district, a position he held from 1943 onwards. Taking this historical context as its point of departure, the work addresses names as expressions of identity, power, and exclusion.