Operation Bebelplatz

Tuesday, 13 January 2009 21:07

Today I completed my first assignment for the semi-fictitious International Necronautical Society. It involved photographing the glass plate that is part of the book-burning memorial on Bebelplatz. The glass is replaced every few months because it gets dirty. This process is just another part of the many forms of erasure that have taken place at Bebelplatz (formerly Opernplatz) over the centuries. The workers were friendly and gave me unlimited access to the operation as they lifted and replaced the 250kg glass by machine. The square was quiet at 8.30am. Only two people - both women - stopped to gaze into the open memorial at the empty library shelves, built to commemorate the 20,000 or so books burned there by the Nazis in 1933.