Perceptions on
St. NiKOLAI MEMORIAL
hamburger denkräume:
works of the seminar on place and perception
by students of the University of Hamburg
Dear Reader, do you find beauty in ashes? We think, we did …in the Nikolaidenkmal!; the bombed neogothic church, dedicated to the patron of the sailors, St. Nikolai. We invite you, here, to explore not just, some remains of the WWII, but a project of transient beauty and spiritual joy for the 21th century, in a time when distance is ought to be mainted for saving lives, while freedom for peace treasured.
picture by eliza karp
What was there?
Strengths of Stone
- Imagining the first hours of the Nikolai church, tower and it’s surroundings, after the Bombardement of Hamburg in WWII, in the first picture frame of 1945 by Eric Andres-
“Stunde Null” 8. May 1945. 12:00 noon. Hamburg is handed over to the Allied Forces without a further fight as an opened city… The picture you are viewing was just published in the Hamburger Abendblatt on the capitulation day. A feeling of desolation, a smell of burned stone emanates somehow, yet through the stillness from the scenery. A ruin!
Hamburg Radio sends Churchills Discourse.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efvwJjzqKUk” That ends with the Phrase: “Long live the cause of Freedom!”
The British and allied troupes, march in the city on tanks through mountains of rubble. As the days pass, generals and soldiers, start eating chocolate with the locals, in the small places, still standing which get British names as the Old Commercial Room, Taifun, North Star Kneipen on Englische Planke and further on Silbersack.
Reconstruction begins with: the installation of new lightbulbs; for the streets, near the Town Hall, had gone through nights of: weary, dreadful, deep Darkness! The ashes of those days, can still be touched on the stone today. Isn’t that a gloomy miracle? What kind of chance of faith did the highest tower in Europe of it’s time had, to still stand today? Build by a Scottish architect, Sir Walter Gilbert Scott, the father of the famous Scottish writer Walter Gilbert Scott Jr., it stood strong to the bombs of the British brotherly planes, for which it was a guiding pole of their surveillance and raids above the harbour. Here the English merchants community, according to the archives of the Hamburg Handelskammer ,were praying for the success of their maritime contracts and safety of their goods. Saint Nikolas being the patron of the sailors. I wonder if after the German Reich the bombing of the Nikolai Churches in Hamburg and in Berlin had any symbolic meaning for the English communities acting in the German economy before National Socialism? I wonder how the pilots felt, when they dropped the bombs, knowing that these churches once belonged to their ethic communities! Was this a political plan of Churchill? My perception is that the towers were left standing, as symbiotic symbols of the grandeur of truth. Maybe the tactic was that the British, were showing that their community churches, should not be left standing, … because the Germans did not deserve their existence? Now, what is sticking is that these ruins, remains of a painful past, are as much left aside in as much as they are not taken in consideration, by investments for the preservation of culture by the Town Hall administration. Are Germans trying to avoid showing they are not victims of the WWII? Nevertheless, as black knight of freedom, the St. Nikolai still stands, as the second tallest building on the skyline of Hamburg!
Text by eliza karp
BEAUTY FOR ASHES
אֵפֶר פְאֵר תַּ֣חַת
Isaiah Chapter 61:3 יְשַׁעְיָהוּג
ג לָשׂוּם לַאֲבֵלֵי צִיּוֹן, לָתֵת לָהֶם פְּאֵר תַּחַת אֵפֶר שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן תַּחַת אֵבֶל–מַעֲטֵה תְהִלָּה, תַּחַת רוּחַ כֵּהָה; וְקֹרָא לָהֶם אֵילֵי הַצֶּדֶק, מַטַּע יְהוָה לְהִתְפָּאֵר.
Allepo Codex in Aramaic in Hebrew lettering.
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
King James Bible in Edwardian English.
“ℨ𝔲 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔣𝔣𝔢𝔫 𝔡𝔢𝔫 𝔗𝔯𝔞𝔲𝔯𝔦𝔤𝔢𝔫 𝔷𝔲 ℨ𝔦𝔬𝔫, 𝔡𝔞ß 𝔦𝔥𝔫𝔢𝔫 𝔖𝔠𝔥𝔪𝔲𝔠𝔨 𝔣ü𝔯 𝔄𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔢 𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔉𝔯𝔢𝔲𝔡𝔢𝔫ö𝔩 𝔣ü𝔯 𝔗𝔯𝔞𝔲𝔯𝔦𝔤𝔨𝔢𝔦𝔱 𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔠𝔥ö𝔫𝔢 𝔎𝔩𝔢𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔣ü𝔯 𝔢𝔦𝔫𝔢𝔫 𝔟𝔢𝔱𝔯ü𝔟𝔱𝔢𝔫 𝔊𝔢𝔦𝔰𝔱 𝔤𝔢𝔤𝔢𝔟𝔢𝔫 𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔡𝔢𝔫, 𝔡𝔞ß 𝔰𝔦𝔢 𝔤𝔢𝔫𝔞𝔫𝔫𝔱 𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔡𝔢𝔫 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔅ä𝔲𝔪𝔢 𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔊𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔠𝔥𝔱𝔦𝔤𝔨𝔢𝔦𝔱, 𝔓𝔣𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔷𝔢𝔫 𝔡𝔢𝔰 ℌ𝔈ℜℜ𝔑 𝔷𝔲𝔪 𝔓𝔯𝔢𝔦𝔰𝔢.”
Luther Bibel 1912 in German Frakturschrift.
In memory of the bombardment victims by: M. Neubauer
The exit to safety by: A. Dracheva
General Information by: F. Rezzonico
“How can we care to leave wounds open, for memory, for knowledge?
Thoughts by Tabea
Is St. Nikolai an open wound?
Or was it closed a long time ago?
Where do the Jewish survivors live now?
Will they ever have the priviledge to heal?”
“Die alte Schönheit ist noch immer versteckt in den Steinen”
Thoughts by Jantje Schäfer
“Sind die Rußspuren von den Bombardierungen noch erkennbar”?
Thoughts by Hanne Gerckens
what did we PERCEIVE?
“One pm. The church bells ring. They sound peacefully, but I cannot think of peace, when I look around. Sadness and many thoughts go through my mind. It’s hard to see how such an impressive building was destroyed years ago. But it’s even harder to imagine how many people died and suffered during that time…”
Thoughts by Hanne Gerckens
“Inmitten von Geräuschen ist es ruhig. Innerhalb der kaputten Mauern der Nikolai Kirche. Ich höre Kirchenglocken, den Straßenlärm, das arbeiten auf einer Baustelle. Wie ein Rauschen im Hintergrund. Der Platz scheint in der Zeit still zu stehen. Ein Abbild eines anderen Jahrhunderts. Einer Zerstörung, die ich mir nicht vorstellen kann. Ganz offensichtlich ist dies ein Ort der Erinnerung: es gibt Hinweisschilder, Statuen, Abbildungen und Erklärungen. Der Turm steht emporgereckt, wie ein mahnender Finger, während das Schiff fast komplett zerstört ist. Die Glocken läuten um 13 Uhr. Noch immer, trotz aller Widrigkeiten erinnert die Kirche Hamburg an die Uhrzeit. Die Zeit steht nicht still, im Gegenteil. Neues und Altes verschmilzt. Drumherum ist Geschäftigkeit, hier Ruhe. Dieser Ort reißt ein Loch in die sonst so volle, laute & sich entwickelnde Innenstadt. Er konserviert etwas. Eine Mahnung an ein zerstörtes Hamburg”.
Thoughts by Jorid Lange
Wenn meine Eltern mich als Kind mit in die Kirche nahmen, langweilte ich mich meistens. Was mich jedoch faszinierte, waren die farbenfrohen Bleiglasfenster, die dem sonst so düsteren und kalten Ort etwas Leben verliehen. Sie zeigten Heilige und Szenen aus der Bibel. Ich malte mir Geschichten aus und gab den mir fremden Gesichtern Namen. In St. Nikolai gibt es keine Bleiglasfenster mehr. Stattdessen fällt der Blick auf die Fensterfront eines Bürogebäudes. Eine andere Art von Mosaik. Kalt und farblos. Ein Gebäude, das nur dem Zweck der Produktivität dient und keinen Raum für Ästhetik lässt. Doch auch dieses Fenster fasziniert mich. Ein Fenster, welches Einblicke in den Alltag so vieler gibt. Ich frage mich, wie sie diesen Ort wahrnehmen. Sind sie sich seiner Vergangenheit und Bedeutung bewusst? Ermahnt sie dieses Bewusstsein zu mehr Achtsamkeit? Oder ist ihnen der Ort gleichgültig, da seine Präsenz für sie zur Gewohnheit geworden ist?
Text by Malena Natschinski
WHAT could the memorial MEAN?
I asked a pedestrian how this place made her feel. Her answer: “annoyed”, confused me for a second. She went on to explain that she is annoyed by the noise of the traffic and construction that the monument is surrounded by. “Interesting”, I thought, since to me the noise of modern life is part of what makes this place so special. It creates a kind of duality. The memorial shows us how present the past still is today. Her husband wonders why they never rebuilt the church. It is a house of God after all, and it should be used as such. Or shouldn’t it? What is the purpose of leaving this place in a state of destruction? Of having a ruin, a wasted space, in the midst of a bustling city centre? I think the purpose is just that. To make people ask questions. “Why is there no roof?”, was the question I asked myself when I first discovered the St. Nikolai Memorial. And it made me stop, and wonder, and eventually do some research on why there is no roof. It made me aware of the horrors that occurred at this place. That is precisely what this memorial is made for. Remembering the past and spreading awareness. It makes me wonder…if we keep history alive, can we stop it from repeating itself?
Text by Malena Natschinski
“The church serves, in my opinion, as a reminder of how heavily the city of Hamburg was destroyed during the bombings of WW2, and how they managed to restore a big part of it.”
Thoughts by Alexandra Dracheva
“Behind the church there’s an emergency exit. NOTAUSGANG.
Thoughts by Tabea
It leads to an underground door, looks like a bunker. Was the bunker an emergency exit or a trap?
How many people died from the toxic air in the bunkers?
What was the NOTAUSGANG for the Jewish people of Hamburg?
Did it also lead underground?”
“It’s so important to remind people everyday of the atrocities that happened in the past, to avoid the same mistakes in the future.”
Thoughts by a visitor
“Die Zerstörung vor Ort ist nicht zu übersehen. Und auch fühlen kann man sie. Sich derartige Ausmaße von Gewalt und Zerstörung vorzustellen ist heute schwierig. Aber wenn man auf die übrigen, wenigen Wände schaut, die noch stehen, kann man es fühlen. Man wird erinnert, man wird zurückversetzt und auf einmal verschwimmen die Grenzen von damals und heute. Wenn man genau hinsieht, kann man Unterschiede erkennen – Steine der ursprünglichen Kirche und neue Steine, die ergänzt wurden. Neu und Alt. Hält das Neue, das Alte zusammen? Basiert das Neue auf dem Alten? Wo sind wir denn heute? Machen wir etwas anders? So oft lassen wir Gewalt um uns herum einfach geschehen. Vermeintlich nicht in einer so derartigen Dimension, aber dennoch. Das Mahnmal dient als Mahnung, als Erinnerung, an die Ausmaße, die Gewalt annehmen kann. Es soll erinnern. Erfüllt es seinen Zweck?
Text by Jantje Schäfer
WHAT COULD BE THERE?
“This place serves to inspire and to remember”
Thoughts by Lirim Sefera
“Es ist als Mahnmal dafür da, dass sich diese Dinge niemals wiederholen sollten”
Thoughts by a visitor
Wie lange wird dieser Ort bestehen? Welchen Nutzen wird er in hundert Jahren haben? Werden wir uns erinnern (wollen)? Wird der Ort einer weiteren Zerstörung zum Opfer fallen? Wovon wird das abhängen?
Thoughts by Jorid Lange
Imagening the church. By Ise Gainza.
“A homeless person pulled up their belongings beside the church – how are they gonna be remembered? Will they survive the winter? How can the open space protect them? They need shelter, a roof, but the church’s roof was bombed off a long time ago. To whom does the church give shelter?”
Thoughts by Tabea
This blog ist the product of a group work within: Hamburger Denkräume: A Seminar on Place and Perception.
created by: Francine Rezzonico | HAnne Gerckens | eliza karp | Jantje Schäfer | Jemina-jane Idun | Jorid Lange | Malena Natschinski
This is the place of your thoughts.
Beauty for Ashes אֵפֶר פְאֵר תַּ֣חַת 