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out CAMPed memory
Memorial at the former Concentration Out-Camp at Echterdingen (1944/45) Project: Andreas Knitz, Horst Hoheisel
Competition Entry December 2008
Not chosen on the grounds: "Too much emotion"
The Task We, Andreas Knitz and Horst Hoheisel, were invited by the Leinfelden-Echterdingen town council to take part in a competition for a memorial. The requirement was to present a draft for a memorial at the site of the former concentration out camp at Echterdingen on the premises of Stuttgart Airport. The authentic site, a hangar where the uniquely Jewish prisoners were held is still standing. During works near the hangar in 2005 a mass grave was uncovered. The remains of 34 former inmates were reburied according to Jewish tradition at the same site where they had been discovered in 2007. Both the hangar and the site of the mass grave are part of a U.S.-Airbase still in use today and therefore not accessible to the general public. Because of this, the town council purchased a plot of land outside the perimeter fence for the memorial. Our entry transcends the competition requirements by trying to regain the authentic site for the general public: the hangar is at present still being used by the United States Air Force as part of their airbase. We suggest provisionally placing the sculpture of prisoners' bunk beds with their names engraved (a symbol of their defencelessness and loss of dignity) next to the perimeter fence. As soon as the hangar becomes accessible to the general public the sculpture will be moved ("reCAMPed") there. Citizens, local firms and institutions can contribute to the memorial by financing one or several prisoners' bunk beds (as stated in the competition requirements). (Wettbewerbsauslobung - in german language)The Point of View Germany is the country from where the perpetrators came. Memorials in Germany have to deal with the crime and the perpetrators. Singularly remembering the victims cannot in Germany replace dealing with the crime and the perpetrators.  SS-Unterscharführers at Buchenwald Concentration Camp (Thüring State Archive, Weimar)
René Romann, Commandant at Echterdingen Concentration Camp
The Site of the Crime
The hangar as the authentic site is not accessible. It is part of a U.S. Airbase and therefore still part of a war machinery though it an absolutely different context. This is why commemoration has to be staged on a site outside the perimeter fence. A shield blocking the view of the hangar is to be installed. This is inacceptable. The hangar must be handed back in coming years so as to be used as the authentic site.
  Left: Front cover of volume 20 of the Filderstädter Papers Concentration Out Camp (2008) Former inmates The hangar in the background Right: Gravestones of the 34 graves on the U.S. Airbase - probably one of the best guarded Jewish cemeteries in the world. The hangar in the background
The Bureaucracy Our entry is an attempt to reclaim the authentic memorial site through involving politicians and high-ranking civil servants. The problem is at present being reviewed at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The Method of Memorialisation A prisoners' bunk bed site dedicated to the 600 inmates is to be erected in front of the perimeter fence. The beds are to carry the prisoners' names. The material to be used will be concrete created and mixed from materials gained from Leinfelden and Emerland quarries where the prisoners were subjected to slave labour.   The Method of Information Several bunk beds are to be encased in glass like shop windows and used to tell the story of the concentration out camp at Echterdingen. The Structure of the Memorial The "Bunk-Bed Out Camp" is to be surrounded by the same kind of perimeter fence as the one that secures the airbase with the former concentration camp hangar and the gravesite of the 34 inmates uncovered in 2005. In this manner the memorial is incorporated into the totality of the site comprising of the hangar, the gravesite, the former quarries and the memorial itself.  The Future As soon as the hangar becomes accessible - it will not remain a U.S. Airbase for ever - the "outCamped Memorial" with the bunk beds and the engraved prisoners' names can be moved into the building. The Cost of the Memorial Each bed with an engraved name will cost approximately €100 so that. Leinfelden, Echterdingen and Filderstadt would contribute € 33 each. The three towns should be in a position to afford this expense for a memorial as they are not situated in a poor region of Germany.  Patronages
Schools, associations, institutions, firms, families, citizens of the region can offer patronages through donating € 100 or more for one or several of the prisoners' beds. They will receive a certificate designed by the artists with the name of an inmate. The memorial will grow along with the growing involvement of the local population. It will be a democratic memorial.
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