Gang nach Buchenwald (Walk to Buchenwald)

Christoph Korn 2020

Based on a conversation with the Shoa survivor Naftali Fürst (Haifa) and text fragments from the Book of Job, by Paul Celan, Pauline Oliveros and Christoph Korn

With: Jana Schulz, Tom Jacobs, Composition: Christoph Korn, Accordion: Sven Hermann, Dramaturgy: Claas Morgenroth

idea: Rolf C. Hemke

Production: Deutschlandfunk Kultur/Kunstfest Weimar/ACHAVA Festival Thüringen, Buchenwald Foundation 2020

From Weimar's main train station there is an approximately two-hour walk to former Buchenwald concentration camp. Thousands of victims of the Nazi regime had to walk this way. On April 16, 1945, shortly after the liberation of the concentration camp, they were followed by about 1,000 Weimar citizens by order of the American high command. They should see the horror of Buchenwald with their own eyes.

To memorialize this path, the media artist Christoph Korn has composed an audio walk and radio play for the project "Gang nach Buchenwald" of the Kunstfest Weimar. His audio piece is an approaching: walking on asphalt, tar, leaves, gravel, towards that unspeakable place. The starting point of the radio play was a conversation with the contemporary witness Naftali Fürst.

This production was made with binaural microphony. For listening it is recommended to put on headphones.