Mini-Holocaust memorial targets far-right politician

GERMANY: Berlin-based art collective the Centre for Political Beauty unveiled its latest project yesterday: 24 concrete slabs in the sleepy village of Bornhagen, Germany.

The project is an homage to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, an iconic feature of Berlin’s central Mitte neighbourhood that was unveiled in 2005 and pays tribute to the victims of the Holocaust with more than 2711 slabs of varying proportions.

But the location of Bornhagen’s mini-Holocaust memorial was chosen with one specific viewer in mind: Bjorn Hocke, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, who owns a nearby property.

Hocke knows the original monument well. In January, he gave a speech in Dresden in which he described it as a ‘‘monument of shame’’ and said Germany’s culture of addressing its World War II-era crimes needed a ‘‘180-degree turn’’. The local branch of the AfD later apologised for the comments, but critics were angered that Hocke was not ejected from the party.

The Centre for Political Beauty said it installed the slabs in Bornhagen because Hocke was a ‘‘secret admirer’’ of the Berlin monument.

Philipp Ruch, one of the organisers of the project, told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper that the group was planning to keep the slabs in place for at least two years.

‘‘He should enjoy the view every day when he looks out the window,’’ Ruch said, adding that the ‘‘monument of shame’’ had been turned 180 degrees to better suit Hocke’s taste.

The activists say the slabs will be removed only if Hocke agrees to fall to his knees and beg forgiveness in front of the Berlin memorial. That requirement is itself an homage: then-chancellor Willy Brandt unexpectedly dropped to his knees during a 1970 visit to a memorial commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

Hocke, who appears to have been spotted on his property looking at the memorial, has not indicated whether he will comply.

AfD chairman Jorg Meuthen said the memorial was ‘‘distasteful’’ and that the party would do everything to ensure ‘‘these socalled artists are held accountable’’, according to the Tagesspiegel newspaper.

The Centre for Political Beauty said the project took almost 11 months of planning, with activists renting nearby properties and observing Hocke without his knowledge. – Washington Post