BURKHARD SCHITTNY, Fineart

jjj

JJJ
LEGACY PROJECTS 2023
Light/Text: loop 00:10:30 / typography / 80 slides 24x36mm / b/w / set of 1

INSTALLATION
Kodak Carousel, plinth presentation, dimension variable

INTRODUCTION
The piece "JJJ" refers to the SS Gruppenführer and Police Lieutenant General Jürgen Stroop, who had been active in Wiesbaden since 1943 as Höherer SS und Polizeiführer "Rhein-Westmark". Among other things, Stroop was responsible for putting down the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. After the end of the World War II, he was sentenced to death by a Polish court and executed.

On 9 May 1941, Stroop had changed his first name from "Josef" to "Jürgen" "due to ideological views" and in memory of his deceased son. While Stroop was allowed to change his biblical first name of Hebrew origin, Jews under the Nazi dictatorship were obliged to call themselves "Israel" and "Sara": an act of exclusion intended to represent that identity was no longer a private matter.

PROJECTION
The names "Josef" and "Jürgen" are projected alternately, starting from the same font size.
Over the course of 80 slides, the name "Josef" gradually shrinks until it is completely unrecognisable, while the name "Jürgen" enlarges and finally bursts the picture frame.

INSTALLATION VIEWS at KZ-Gedenkstätte "Unter den Eichen", Wiesbaden