Makeshift Memorial Köpenick’s Week of Bloodshed

As part of the research on the Köpenick Week of Bloodshed for the development of a puppet theater play planned for 2023 with the puppeteer Susi Claus, we read trial records, letters in the archive of the memorial in Köpenick and interviewed descendants of victims. In the process, the extent of the torture of victims became painfully clear. From June 20 to 26 1933, the SA abducted neighbors, including district, state, and Reich politicians, trade unionists, and members of the KPD, SPD, and their associations to restaurants and sports clubs. They were also maltreated with the furniture available there, among other things, and 24 of them died.

For the Temporary Makeshift Monument I used historical chairs from the 1930s, which were smashed and whose fragments I assembled into a sculpture.

Currently, the work stands in the prayer room of the memorial, the torture site of the former official prison of Köpenick, which was also used by the SA.