The artist photographed the covers of books that were considered “undeutsch”, banned and annihilated during National Socialism. In 1933 acts of book burnings took place across Germany, including in Hamburg. Many of these volumes were written and designed in the mid 1920s and early 1930s, and bear witness to an extraordinary artistic and literary diversity of the Weimar Republic such as Helene Stöcker´s, Liebe designed by John Heartfield or Alfred Döblin´s Berlin Alexanderplatz designed by Georg Salter. ​​Their authors were targeted because they were Jewish or their writing represented Jewish culture, political dissent, social democracy, women rights, homosexuality, pacifism, internationalism or avant-garde.   

By focusing on the individual books as surviving objects of fire and quiet witnesses of their time, the installation is not only a reflection on the past but also a meditation on the present. Kelm reminds us that the defense of diversity and freedom begins with protecting the circulation of ideas, cultural items, voices, and stories that reflect plurality. And that attacks on literature, art and thought can precede attacks on people. How do societies decide which knowledge is legitimate? Which voices might be marginalized or silenced in our times and how to prevent it collectively?    

Presented here is a selection of 12 photographs of covers (out of 104) which are part of the collection of the Hamburger Kunsthalle. Thus Die Bücher symbolically return to the public space from which they were once violently removed. 

Annette Kelm (*1975) born in Stuttgart, lives in Berlin.

Presented in collaboration with Hamburger Kunsthalle and Esther Schipper.