Buchenwald Memorial Mittelbau-Dora Memorial Museum Zwangsarbeit im NS

"Haut, Stein" (Skin, Stone)

In a public square there are metal boxes with photos hanging on their walls. On the outsides are large photos of buildings in Weimar in the 40s, inside photos of people showing their tattoos.
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Exhibition cells set up on Stéphane Hessel Square, 2021. Photo: Jakob Ganslmeier.

©Buchenwald Memorial
In a public square, metal boxes are set up with photos hanging on their walls. In the foreground is the image of a topless man with a beard and bald head. In the back two exhibition cells are pictures of a hand and a man in profile view.
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Inside the exhibition cells set up on Stéphane Hessel Square, 2021. Photo: Jakob Ganslmeier.

©Buchenwald Memorial
Metal boxes are placed in a public square. On the outer walls are large photos of facades and buildings from the Weimar of the 40s. The imperial eagle can be seen on some of them.
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Exhibition cells set up on Stéphane Hessel Square, 2021. Photo: Jakob Ganslmeier.

©Buchenwald Memorial
The picture shows one of the exhibition cells from the inside. Inside hang two pictures. The picture on the right shows a hand. The picture on the left shows the naked belly of a man with tattoos and patches on his chest.
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Interior view of one of the exhibition cells set up on Stéphane Hessel Square, 2021. Photo: Jakob Ganslmeier.

©Buchenwald Memorial

To what extent does the German past truly lie behind us? The long-term photography project by Jakob Ganslmeier (Berlin/Den Haag) explores this question, probing how we treat Nazi symbols today. Black and white architectural photographs are juxtaposed with colour portraits of individuals who have exited right-wing extremist groups. The photo documentation shows both the removal of tattoos clearly identifiable with a right-wing milieu and architectural remnants of the National Socialist period still visible in public space.

The Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation presented the project "Haut, Stein" (Skin, Stone) as a travelling outdoor exhibition in 2021, marking the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp. The exhibition was shown in public spaces in Weimar and Nordhausen and was subsequently displayed in Cologne.

The podcast accompanying the exhibition tells the individual stories behind the portraits, detailing how the individuals became disillusioned with the right-wing scene and their processes of deradicalization.

The podcast is available at www.podcast.exitdeutschland.de and with all popular podcast providers.

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