Krakow Photo Month 2015

ROSTOCK RITZ, 2004

Book project: Rostock Ritz, 23 photographs, with texts by Uwe Timm, Larissa Förster, Brigitta Schmidt-Lauber, Manasse Veseevete and

Eva Leitolf, 30 x 35.5 cm, hardcover. Schaden, Cologne, 2005.

     Later, in the re-enactment of the battle, the leader of the “German colonial troops” screams “Schweinhund, dreckig Schweinhund!”. The spectators laugh. The German soldiers are played by children, while men on horseback represent the Herero warriors. The child soldiers fall down “shot”, while the “injured” are dragged from the battlefield laughing, and the Hereros ride off victoriously to jubilant cries. Wooden rifles are left on the battlefield, and the injured limp across it. The Germans have been defeated, and the horsemen gallop across the field again and again, cheered on by the women.

Excerpt from the artist's journal in Rostock Ritz: 9 April 2004, Ovitoto, Okandjira Battle Commemoration.

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