JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
[Source: Ex Libris Buchkunst und Angewandte Graphik, volume 25, 1915.]
"On the water tower of the former gunpowder factory, visible from far away, the black, white, and red flag flutter int eh wind...a sign that new life has moved into the once desolate compound..."Dachauer Zeitung, March 1933, --
"On Wednesday 22 March 1933 the first concentration camp will be opened in the vicinity of Dachau. It can accommodate 5,000 people. Here will be gathered together the entire Communist and, as much as necessary, the [left wing] Reichsbanner and Social Democratic Party functionaries who threaten the security of the state, since in the long term it is impossible and draining for the state to house them in government prisons. It has become clear that it is not viable to leave these people free, as they continue to make trouble and disturb the peace. We have adopted this measure, undeterred by paltry scruples, in the conviction that our action will help to restore calm to our country and is in the best interests of our people."--Heinrich Himmler, via Music and the Holocaust, http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/music-early-camps/dachau/
At first glance this image looked to me to be be an image of destruction at Dachau in 1916. At this point Dachau had enjoyed some generations'-worth of beign a cultural/artistic community 18 miles or so away from Munich in Bavaria. At the beginning of the war a gunpowder/munitions factory was built there, which survived until the end of the war when the plant was closed. It seems to have been sitting vacant until the Nazis became interested in it and used the complex for a concentration camp, starting out housing political prisoners in 1933, which was the beginning of an horrific legacy. It became the longest-utilized of the KZ-Lager in the vast operation of Nazi concentration camps.
The image sparked these thoughts--but as it turns out, the "Dachau" part of the image identification related to the artist, Georg Broel (1886-1940), who lived in the city. It is called "Zerstorung", and no matter the association, once "Dachau" makes an appearance it is nothing but "destruction".
- For a map of the munitions factory, 1916: http://www.hdbg.de/dachau/pdfs/07/07_26/07_26_04.PDF
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