Wednesday 3 September 2014

The Soul of Kiel (3)

Trainride sketches entry September 1

The subject to start off this project with just dropped in my lap.
I arrived in Kiel yesterday evening and being too busy installing and settling in I first noticed it when going out to get breakfast this morning: a massive black 5-storey bunker right across the road of my rental apartment. Overgrown as it is -there are even trees growing on the roof- it sits there silent and intimidating between the housing blocks. Makes it impossible to not mention the War while I’m here. Because evidently the structure was build for protection against the explosives that came raining down on the city towards the end op WW2.

There are plenty of bunkers in Kiel, still standing. Yes, we have them in my home town too, but not this big, and not so many. Here they are all over, permanent reminders of an era of fear and hate, or for the generations that have grown up in peace: places to fantasize about. Rectangular shaped autonomous zones dropped there from outer space, concrete mazed caves waiting to be explored, Pandora boxes filled with who knows what. Any which way, they certainly make an imprint on the collective mind.

Naturally there is a group of enthousiastics documenting the bunkers in the city.

PS about the quality of the pictures: I have no scanner at my disposal at the moment so take snaps with my phone.


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