WEBVTT

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Images write history and  leave an impression behind. 

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Imaes, they shape history and 

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our understanding of it. 

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History enters our consciousness through them. 

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Wie live with them. 

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What if the revolution of 1848 had been successful?

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What if an atomic bomb

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had fallen on Ludwigshafen in 1945?

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What if the protests of 1989 would’ve been 

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violently crushed?

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14 caesuras in the history of Germany, viewed from a rarely before taken prespective. 

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 From 1989 to 1848, 

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in retrospect.

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In the light
of reality’s twists and turns,

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other plausible scenarios are taken into consideration.

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The exhibition is based on:

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Which are the occurances that could lead one to conclude 

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that within lies the typical characteristic of a turning point.  

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Although portraying the turning point or points is 

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not so much the priority as 

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portraying the herein embedded possibility, 

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another, indeed different, unfolding. 

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After all, the point is to depict reality,
but ultimately, at certain points,

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that can be regarded, understood, as turning points.

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Also, in the context of the 
contemporaries’ understanding,

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to explore the extent 

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to which other possibilities

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were nevertheless hidden in this, 

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in these turning points 
that might have given history a different direction. 

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That is, it is a matter of leaning over the rails that protect one, meaning,

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the rails of reality,

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and thus, so to say, 

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 recognize a certain deviance, 
out of which, like a seed,

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another story could have,
in each specific scenario, developed. 

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With the recurring questions;
What was within the bounds of possibility?

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And what is it that actually happened?

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the exhibition takes 14 turning points into view. 

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1945

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An atomic bomb on Ludwigshafen.

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The various warring parties work towards

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the use of atomic energy for military purposes. 

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Albert Einstein, at the instigation of
physicists who had emigrated to the USA, 

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warns the president of the United States of America, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a letter,

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about the development of a german atomic bomb.

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Roosevelt commissions the Manhattan
Project in 1942,

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which leads to the construction of an
American atomic bomb.

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At the beginning of the project, Germany was to be the bomb’s target. 

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From the Normandy landings on June 1944 onwards, 

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the allies gain ground in Europe. 

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In order to stop them, the Wehrmacht begins in 1944

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the so called “Watch on the Rhine”

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The Ardenne Offensive had the goal of
reconquering the Port of Antwerp

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and so being able to interfere with the Allies’ ordonance.

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A few months later, intense combat took place

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at the Bridge of Remagen, point of strategical importance.

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The Wehrmacht attempts to blow the bridge up 
in order to keep them from advancing. 

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What could’ve happen in 1945?

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The Ardenne Offensive is a success. 

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The port of Antwerp is brought back under german control.

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Soon enough the Alliies run out of ordnance.

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The successful advancement of the Allies, which would come much later, 

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halts at the ruins of the Bridge of Remagen, detonated by the Wehrmacht. 

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The end to the war in Europe is delayed by various months. 

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In order to force Germany to surrender amidst this situation,

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American president Harry Truman decides to 

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use the atomic bomb.

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The target is initially Berlin. 

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The Americans then find Ludwigshafen, 
the IG Farben complex being an industrial center point, 

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to be of larger strategical value.

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What actually happened in 1945?

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The Ardennes Offensive fails

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as well as the detonation of the Bridge of Remagen.

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The Allie’s troops can steadily advance. 

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The war in Europe ends on 

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May 8th 1845 with Germany’s capitulation

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The atomic bomb won’t be employed. 

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The situation is different in the Asian war zone.

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On August 6th and 9th, 1945,

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the bombs intended for Germany fall on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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Until the end of 1945, more than 230,000 people are killed

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either immediatley or from the consequences  

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of the radiation.

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Roads not taken.

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Or: It could’ve happened differently. 

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I dare to assert, there won’t be two

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visitors, who in their heads, 

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will see the same exhibition. 

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Experimentally, I find that extremely intresting, and I believe 

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that it allows us, through conflict, with the dolls too and how they are placed, 

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to reflect upon the History of Germany in 
the 19th and 20th Century,

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and upon history as such.