Isabel Wachenheimer leert veters strikken op een bankje in Baden-Baden, april 1933 1933 - 1934

Curator: Isabel Wachenheimer learns to tie shoelaces on a bench in Baden-Baden, a photograph taken in April 1933 by Oskar Hirrlinger. It’s a gelatin silver print. What are your first thoughts? Editor: A seemingly ordinary snapshot exudes a haunting stillness. There's such normalcy, and yet, knowing the date… it's impossible not to feel a sense of impending doom. Curator: The very act of tying shoelaces becomes fraught. The laces themselves transform into threads of fate, tangled and uncertain, representing a childhood about to be irrevocably disrupted. This image becomes more than just a portrait; it symbolizes innocence on the cusp of historical tragedy. Editor: Exactly. Baden-Baden, a resort town known for its leisure and beauty, turns into a stage. A little girl, learning a fundamental skill... I'm thinking of how the Nazis quickly excluded Jews from public spaces – parks, benches, the very air of normalcy. This bench, this act, feels defiant in retrospect, even though I doubt it was intended that way. Curator: And there’s a deep-seated pathos present. Her white dress, an emblem of purity, serves as a sharp contrast against the ominous socio-political backdrop. Visually, the dark foliage looming behind her could be a foreshadowing of the adversity she will face in Nazi Germany, transforming an otherwise unremarkable scene into something much darker and complex. Editor: I agree, the choice of black and white also underscores that contrast. This photo asks us: what does it mean to witness an historical inflection point at the domestic scale? The everyday existing right before unthinkable ruptures begin? How does such banality co-exist with the extraordinary scale of state-sponsored terror? Curator: And to see the evidence that the unspeakable happened to people who enjoyed moments as quiet as this can, perhaps, keep us vigilant in our own present. The individual is never too small to see in history. Editor: So true. This simple photograph does so much more than depict a little girl; it commemorates a time, place, and the rapidly approaching end of an era, reminding us of the profound impact of history on even the smallest of lives.