personal website︎︎︎

Face-to-face interview on 28. Dec. 2021
Editing on 24. Feb. 2022


Interviewed by
Jeeyoung Lee


Translated by
Seolhee Park

Hi, Nice to meet you. Would you please tell me about yourself?

My name is Rachel Stein Wexler, and I go by Stein. I am originally from the United States and I'm a dual citizen with the United States and Germany. I got my German citizenship when I was around 20 through Holocaust reparations. My grandmother had to flee Germany when she was 10 due to the Holocaust and there's a German program that grants citizenship to descendants of Holocaust victims and those whose citizenship was revoked during World War II.
          I grew up in California in the states and did my bachelor's in literature. A few years later, I did my masters is in city and regional planning in North Carolina, which is on the other side of the country. It was a very different place. In my degree, I focused on equitable economic development and creative placemaking. I was hired out of my master's program to develop a public art program in a city in North Carolina called Durham. I worked there for three years during which I developed and directed public art and creative placemaking projects and programs. During that time, I started thinking about sort of being on the other side. What it would be like to be a practitioner? So, I decided to give it a try and I applied for a fellowship to come to Germany for a year. Due to the pandemic, it’s turned into a year and a half. As a research fellow, I am conducting research and its outcome is being presented through interventions in public space.

Do you find any connections between your past practices and now?

Yes. I see them along a continuum. I viewed my work as a public art administrator also as an art practice. I think anything can be an art practice, it just depends how you approach it. That experience helped me flip to the other side, creating public art, because I understand the administrative process, the barriers, the pitfalls, relationship-building, and managing different stakeholders. I think it's been immensely helpful to have had that experience as an administrator. Now as a practitioner, I feel like I have an insider’s perspective, too.

You're going to have an exhibition in January, right?

Yes. I came to Berlin knowing that I wanted to do an intervention in public space about a pressing social issue. So when I first got here, I did a lot of research trying to figure out what’s going on in civil society at a micro-level.
          Through various conversations with people at the ZK/U, I became aware of a very small movement within the neighborhood surrounding Haus der Statistik of a couple residents very passionately trying to unearth the history of the site before Haus der Statistik was built. I met with them and they were really excited to for someone to do something with the research they had conducted give the project to someone and so that felt like an opportunity for me to fulfill a need. I didn't want to come to a community and say this is what you need. That's not a sustainable way of doing projects. It was really a matter of finding a need that spoke to me and that spoke to my abilities and then connecting and collaborating with the people who it would serve.
          So, the research that they were conducting was about a Jewish senior home which used to stand on the site of Haus der Statistik before the War World War II. The Jewish senior home was established in 1931, eight years before the war. And right before the war, it was re-appropriated by the Nazi puppet organization for the Jewish Community. So they took ownership of the building and in between 1942 and 43 they used it as a pre-concentration camp, a building where they gathered elderly Jews before shipping them to concentration- and work-camps. The original residence of the senior home were part of the first transport. There are about 160 individuals in that first transport and then various waves of elderly Jews were kept in this building before they were also shipped. In totaled about two thousand people were held here in horrible conditions and then shipped to their deaths. This neighborhood group had conducted quite a bit of research about this history and they wanted something to be done with it.

Haus der Statistik WERKstatt
Haus der Statistik is a massive largely vacant complex in  the heart of Berlin, Germany currently undergoing a redevelopment planning process. ©Rico Prauss

The dominant narrative about Haus der Statistik is the visible narrative consisting of the DDR history and thereafter. It’s hard to tell the story that you can't see and that there aren't visible traces of. And so it goes untold. The challenge that I'm facing is how to tell that story and how to make it relevant in the present and in the future. That's what I'm working on.
          The exhibition will have two components. There will be a visual installation in public space on a big poster that explains the history of the site and there will be an audio installation as well which will be embedded into the poster. I am inviting volunteers in the neighborhood to read the names of the original residence of the senior home, that will be recorded, and then played on loop at the installation. 

Oh, you got the records?

Yeah. The Nazis kept very close records. Volunteers in the neighborhood will read the entries in an archival spreadsheet. Then, their voices will be recorded and those recordings will be played into public space on loop until construction begins on the building. So, for months or so, it'll be played into public space. It'll be right outside of the Haus der Materialisierung and on Berolinastraße which is very visible to pedestrians.
          This project will be launched in January and remain through the year as a placeholder until construction begins. My goal with this small project this winter is  to lay the groundwork for something more durable, maybe a permanent installation  or ritual in the finished building. This project will raise awareness around the history and get local people involved and attached to the issue. It’s also for encouraging decision makers at Haus der Statistik to consider writing that history into the future of the building.

Have you found the nursing home, the building?

The building doesn't exist anymore. Let me show you the picture. This might be a little bit hard to understand if you're not really intimately involved with Haus der Statstik. You see, the senior home was from 18-21 on this street. This is a map from 1940 overlayed with a map from 1993, showing the urban structures that exist today. During the war, much of this area was bombed, basically flattened. The synagogue was one of these two back buildings, and it was not destroyed at all. It was completely preserved. This is Haus der Statistik here in this shaded area. The streets are completely different now, you know. The whole area was master planned after the war. And my work is right here.
          After the war these photos were taken in 1955, which is 10 years after the war. And this is the synagogue, still standing. And this is the interior of the synagogue. These are murals of the zodiac signs in the interior, and this is another mural on the interior.

Map overlay
Overlay of maps of the Haus der Statistik area from 1910 and the early 90s illustrating the redevelopment of the area after World War II. ©R Stein Wexler

Can you tell me about the image you put on the ZK/U website, the picture of people?

That photo was taken at the senior home. That's the only photo that I've found of the residents. And I overlaid it with a photograph of the site today in the exact orientation that they were sitting in that photo based on the angle of the shadows.
Hof image overlayed on Berolinastraße
Stein edited the only remaining image of senior home residents and placed them into the contemporary urban context exactly where they were sitting in the 1930s.
©R Stein Wexler


Senior home hof
Published in 1934, this image was found in the Berlin Jewish Museum archive. To date, it is the only known photograph of Gerlachstraße 18/21 senior home residents. (Source: Ein Jahr Hilfe und Aufbau. Hrsg. vom Zentralausschuss der deutschen Juden für Hilfe und Aufbau. Berlin, 1934.)

Would you please tell me about the process of the project that you are working on now? How could you show your work at Haus der Statistik? Did the people at ZK/U help you? Or did you find that place by yourself?

I've definitely been supported by the project team from the ZK/U and Harry on the management team of Haus der Statistik. That's been immensely helpful. And, Matthias is my host for my fellowship at ZK/U. He has been very supportive and has helped me with building connections and navigating the culturally sensitive topics here; what words to use and what words not to use. Also, this neighborhood organization that I mentioned and woman who's on the board of that organization have been really helpful as well. They've been really supportive of this project. And if it weren't for them, I wouldn't be doing it. They’re financially supporting the project. And my fellowship has allowed me to do all the research and project development. I would say those have been the main enablers for the project.

I have impression that people in Germany are really supportive to the practices related to Holocaust. Do you think that is true?

I think it's very complicated coming from the United States context. It feels very different here. The discussion around memorials and the memorial practice are more developed here. But there's blindness towards the issue of authorship. Who is making the work? This question is a very strong focus in the States. The question is about who is allowed to tell whose story. This is a big question, and it is very challenging for artists who are not part of a victim community, if not impossible for them to tell the victim story, whereas here, that doesn't seem to be part of the conversation. As far as I know, many Holocaust memorials and monuments are authored by non-Jewish Germans, although that is just my impression.

Yes, you are right. Also, the American architect (Peter Eisenman) designed Holocaust Memorial (2005) in Berlin.

Yeah, I don't know if he's Jewish. I think there's less focus on the identity of the artist and what their subjectivity might be bringing to the piece. This brings up really interesting issues of guilt. Should the guilty party also be part of the narrative? These are questions that I have no clear answers to but it gets to issues of ‘absolution’. Are you familiar with this word? It comes from religious terminology, but it's when you commit a sin, and then you can reverse the sin by doing something else and then you're absolved of your sin. So like if you steal something and then you say 10 prayers then you're absolved. That's called absolution.
          I find ‘Stolpersteine︎︎︎’ a very effective Memorial. I'm tremendously inspired by this counter Memorial movement.

Yes, as you know, people in Berlin have to encounter a lot of memorials everyday. I want to know about their mentality like what they would feel from Holocaust memorials. One month is too short to do research for it, so I don't know whether I can hear from people what they really feel and think about them. Anyway, I am going to ask people about Holocaust education in school as well.

I’d love to know what you learn. Would you please tell me what you are working on in Korea?

I have focused on historical sites related to May 18 People’s Uprising that happened in Gwangju in 1980 for two years now. There are 29 May 18 Historic Sites currently. One of them is the former Jeonnam Provincial Office, which is immensely important, as it was the last place of resistance, and I came to realize that conflicts had occurred while discussing its usage plan. This made me think that a lot of detailed aspects of problems related to Gwangju and May 18 commemoration lacked mediation. Although I think I might not fully understand these situations and have not researched quite much, there would be errors, but let me just briefly share what I have seen and found.
          First, the subject of the conflict covers bereaved families, imprisoned people, and injured people on May 18, who belong to the May 18 victim’s group. At a glance, they seem to be eager to exercise their influence or make decisions on matters about May 18. Only a few of them are publicly active, and their opinions are thought to represent the victim’s group by major May 18 institutions and administration offices. The victim’s group wants the former Jeonnam Provincial Office to be restored to its previous form in 1980. However, people in the victim’s group do not share the same opinion. Many different interests are entangled in that group, so it is hard to say simply what they want as a group. And actually, it is not certain whether they have rights or power to decide in the society. I think people need to be interested in behind the scene like what caused each victim’s current situation.
          In addition, no one is sure about how much citizens are heard when deciding on something. Most of the Historic Sites are locked, and how they will be utilized is seldom shared with citizens. People have become more indifferent to things related to May 18, maybe because they are sick and tired of the seemingly aggressive attitude of the victims. For instance, the victim’s group is occupying the former Jeonnam Provincial Office and continuing siege.
          May 18 commemoration has used very heavy, solemn, and sorrowful language, and the atmosphere in May in Gwangju is totally different from other cities every year. I only assume that if I investigate the reason why people have stick to this way of commemoration this will lead me to understand political and cultural contexts in Korea.
          Recently, I’ve heard that artists, curators, researchers, and activists, who are the young generation born after 1980 when May 18 occurred, have believed in possibilities of new way of commemoration and tried to make it happen. The way they have approached May 18 is far from tragedy, and they have been finding how to commemorate May 18 with the media, which are familiar to them for 5 to 6 years until now.
          However, the young generation confronted criticism from the victim’s group and the older generation. They asked, “How much do you think you know about May 18?” The young group said that they felt like they were blamed and judged. I think the victim’s group and older generation questioned qualification or authority to talk on what the young did not experience.
          Moreover, international art institutions in Gwangju, such as Gwangju Biennale and Asia Culture Center, cannot be separated from May 18 because they were established in relation to May 18 in the first place. They have been constantly talking about May 18 through various projects with national and international artists and curators. However, the people who perform those artistic practices are not free from judgment by the victim’s group, either. They criticize the artists and curators that they diminish the importance of historic sites or dilute the true meaning of the uprising. With a few of those cases, I have realized that some people strongly distrust the intervention of arts to May 18.
          I have observed situations where people disagree with one another about May 18 Historic Sites or problems regarding commemoration in Gwangju, and I have thought about what I can do here. I was able to meet people with different interests and opinions in 2021, including the victims themselves. This experience made me think that I should mediate in disputes, not having a fixed role nor belonging to an interested party.

Keep me updated on your project. I would love to, even if it is in Korean, see what you write and produce. I have a book. Let me get it. You may have heard of this book* already, it’s very much about the United States and Germany. I mean, this is a very Western approach but the last chapter really talks about a process which could be relatable to the process you’re investigating. This case study came to mind with regards to the process of serving victims community. The  incident happened in a much more recently, in the 80’s. People who experienced it are still alive, as opposed to something like the Holocaust. I appreciated the author’s perspective because he is on curatorial and commissioning boards. He is writing from the perspective of a mediator.

---

*James E Young. The Stages of Memory: Reflections on Memorial Art, Loss, and the Spaces Between (Public History in Historical Perspective), University of Massachusetts Press, 2016

Thank you so much. Now, I am really curious what kind of project you will do if you come to Gwangju.

          Jeeyoung, that would be not only an enormous honor but also a very challenging project. It is a precarious position to be an outsider of a community one would like to serve. Therefore, I would position myself more as a facilitator to encourage project development that would serve the diverse needs of project stakeholders. My loose methodology includes a research phase, relationship building, concept development, project piloting, concept adjustment, and then project delivery. This structure is intentionally vague to allow for and support deep engagement with the community. I would not come into the project with a particular outcome in mind.
          This methodology will result in rather than a static installation, more likely a methodology or ritual which can metamorphosize over time to serve the shifting present needs of the community that it serves. Memory, remembrance, and history are not cast in stone. They change and develop through time and through the lens of contemporary issues and perspectives. Therefore, commemoration projects should be similarly malleable in order to be relevant to the community it is intended to serve. To help illustrate the methodology I’ll tell you about how I’ve applied it in Fügung des Schicksals, in Berlin.

Video︎︎︎Fügung des Schicksals docu
A short video documenting the community engagement process of Fügung des Schicksals [Twist of Fate]

          Should I be invited to participate in the memorial-making process I would first develop relationships and knowledge. This would include requesting the close collaboration or assistance of an artist or researcher who is based in Gwangju. Second of all, I would conduct research both through written and recorded sources as well as through interviews and informal conversations with parties invested in the memorialization of May 18th including victims groups and organizations already engaged in commemoration.
          In Berlin, I visited numerous archives, developed relationships with three neighborhood organizations, as well as working relationships with more traditional researchers who had already unearthed material about the site.
          This research would serve both the purpose of information gathering and also of building trust and relationships. Based on the research I would identify themes, conflicts, and points of commonality between groups and positions. That phase would also serve to start building a coalition of collaborators who can provide constructive feedback and support. Based on emergent themes and commonalities, I would start developing a project concept working in close collaboration with the project collaborator and a supporting coalition.
          The research and relationship building phase of Fügung des Schicksals revealed a desire for neighborhood residents to commemorate the history of the site as well as the bureaucratic nature of existing records documenting the history of the senior home.
          Once a project concept has been drafted, I will run a short pilot to demonstrate how the project could function in the public sphere. During this phase members of the project coalition as well as members of the public will be invited to participate in a process and to also offer feedback to be integrated into the project launch.
          In June of 2021 I held an open house event at Haus der Statistik during which neighborhood residents could not only come learn from initial research I had conducted about the history of the site but also read and interpret historical documents I had found pertaining to its history. This project pilot engaged neighborhood residents in the research process and started conversations around memorialization among the public.
June open house
During an open house event at Haus der Statistik in June 2021, Stein invited neighborhood residents to analyze archival documents pertaining to the senior home. ©R Stein Wexler

After the pilot and feedback stage, I would integrate suggestions and criticism into the project and then launch the final concept. At this point, I would hand over stewardship to a local person, group, or organization; one that had been closely involved with the project from the research phase.
          One particular document, the Transport List made by the Nazis, stood out among community members. So the final project of the phase consisted of a public installation of information on the site as well as a collaborative reading and recording of the names of former residents of the home. The recording is now playing on loop at the educational installation. However, this phase dovetails into a coming phase. During the recording session, I invited participants to consider the question “What do you want to be when you grow old?” and write or draw their responses. This exercise drew attention to the taboo topic of aging and brought the experiences of the senior home residents closer to today’s participants. The next phase of the project, occurring in 2022 will use those responses to develop the project process further.

Reading events
Over the course of three days, neighborhood residents and the general public were invited to read the names of former senior home residents. The readings were recorded, edited, and now play on loop at the site of the former home. ©Rico Prauss


I am aware that this proposal sounds nebulous. However, I believe this structure is necessary to avoid a prescriptive commemoration process. Out of this structure would emerge a process that builds trust and community among project stakeholders providing them with tools to continue building unity and understanding into the future which could help to nurse present-day wounds.
Opening event
On January 27, 2022, also the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the audio-educational installation was opened during an on-site ceremony. ©Rico Prauss