Buchkirchen (monument)
Historical background
Before the war, Sinti from the Blach family lived in Buchkirchen (Upper Austria, Wels-Land district). After Austria’s annexation by Germany on March 12-13, 1938, most of the family were deported and later murdered.
Description of commemoration
The monument is a structure made of Corten steel sheet. It consists of six square posts, connected at the bottom in the shape of the letter U, with a powerful grille fixed at the top. The structure resembles a window or a door and is placed on a platform. In the central part of the platform, inside the “window”, on two low, square posts, there is a plate where moss was planted in the shape of a wreath, with a candle (electric or battery-powered) in the centre.
On both sides of the structure there are another two low posts made of sheet metal with information plaques made of stainless steel. For better readability, the plaques are placed at an angle in relation to the viewer. The left one is a memorial plaque, the right one presents information about the symbolism of the structure. Both texts are in German.
The monument is located on the square at Hauptstrasse, opposite the new Music School. Flowers were planted in front of the monument, which is surrounded by several large boulders of various types of stone and trees. Consequently, the whole square has the character of a location separated from the remaining part of the green square.
Inscriptions
- The plaque on the left:
In German:
Wir gedenken der Buchkirchner Opfer / der NS-Diktatur: // An die Sinti-Großfamilie Blach, / deren Mitglieder aus Rassenwahn / deportiert und viele ermordet wurden. // An Rosina Leidlmayer und / Marie Weiss, die im Schloss Hartheim / und in Niedernhart zu Tode kamen. // Nie mehr wieder! Gegen das Vergessen! // Die Marktgemeinde Buchkirchen
Translation:
In commemoration of the victims of the National Socialist dictatorship: the large Sinti Blach family from Buchkirchen, whose members were deported due to racial prejudices/illusions, of whom many were murdered. In memory of Rosina Leidlmayer and Maria Weiss, who died in the Hartheim castle in Niedernhart. Never again! Do not forget! The municipality of the town of Buchkirchen
- The plague on the right:
In German:
In der Zukunft ist die Vergangenheit Latent! // ein DENK MAL ensteht – ein MAHN MAL / soll mahnen an die Vergangenheit, / soll auch uns mahnen für die Zukunft.
Dieser Aufgabe eine form, d. h. Gestalt zu geben, / versuchte ich einige symbolische Bestände aufzubauen: / Die 6 seitlichen Streben stellen, die 6 Kriegsjahre dar. / Das Gefangen sein, das Eingekerkert sein stellt das Gitter dar. / Zugleich aber auch das durch den Rostfallen in mehrfacher Sicht, / Das nicht Anerkennen, oder das Verbrennen des Übels.
Ein ALTAR – an dem Wir zu bestimmten Zeiten / AN DENKEN können, / An eine Zukunft die uns wirklich Frieden gibt. / DENK MAL nach, EINEN PLATZ, / WO WIR STANDPUNKTE ZU STANDORTE BILDEN / EINEN PLATZ WO WIR MENSCHEN / DEM MENSCHEN BEGENGEN!
Gedanken zum Mahnmal von Hern Wolfgang Kirchmayr / – künstlerische Gestaltung Mahnmal
Translation:
There is the past hidden in the future! The monument is erected as a commemoration. Of what once was, so that we remember about it in the future. // The form is an undertaking. It means, that in order to create a shape, I tried to build a symbolic continuity: 6 horizontal bars mean six years of war, whereas the grille symbolises being a prisoner.
(a pun on words in German which is hard to translate into a foreign language)
About thinking and memory – Hern Wolfgang Kirchmayr, the author of the monument, sculptor and artist
Date of the unveiling
26.04.2014
Author
Initiator
The Blach Family, Verein Ketani Society (Linz)
Address
Near the corner of Hauptstraße and Bäckergasse, 4611 Buchkirchen, Austria
Location
48°13’25.4″N 14°01’15.0″E
48.223712, 14.020842
Gallery
