In the attempt to make the unimaginable number of victims comprehensible, it became clear that it should never just be about numbers, but that it is important to give the individual victims a face again. Under the hands of Jochen Meyder, 10654 terracotta figures were created over the years, individually modelled, with individual faces. Once all the figures, all the victims, have been sculpted and laid out, visitors to the memorial are invited to take a figure home. In this way, they can take on a post hume sponsorship, and give a person a place of remembrance again.
The music
The programme begins with a Renaissance introduction, an "Allemanda con Tripla" by Thomas Fortmann. This is followed by a composition by both authors on themes from the "Württemberg Sonatas by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach", which were dedicated to Duke Carl Eugen. Helmut Lipsky's piece "Überm Sternenzelt sicher wohnen" ("Dwelling Safely in a Starry Sky") deals with Schiller's Ode to Joy, and Thomas Fortmann's composition Grafeneck 1940, which deals with the incomprehensible events in Grafeneck, concludes the programme. All four pieces were written especially for this commemoration and require an unusual instrumentation: violin (plus electric Vl), piano and percussion.
The artists
Jochen Meyder studied sculpture in Stuttgart and Nuremberg, art history and philosophy in Tübingen. His works are committed to the figure, but are often contrasted in a collage-like manner by found objects, thus obtaining a new statement. The figures of the murders in Grafeneck comprises a separate group of works.
Helmut Lipsky studied violin and was a student of Ithzak Perlman in New York for a time. He is a professor at the Montréal Conservatory and plays as a soloist with leading orchestras and in various chamber music ensembles. He writes music for theatre and film, also using unusual instrumentation.
Grafeneck
History
Grafeneck, for many years the hunting lodge and pleasure palace of Duke Carl-Eugen of Württemberg, was a place of culture in the 18th century where music, opera and ballet were cultivated. In 1928, the Samaritan Foundation took over the palace as a place for disabled people. In 1939, it was confiscated by the National Socialist state for "purposes of the Reich". From January 1940 until December of the same year, 10654 disabled and mentally ill people were murdered.
