NEVER AGAIN AND AGAIN

The Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park is a classic manifestation of the Soviet cult of victory. The dramaturgy of the complex starts with the landscapes of grief shaped by mourning birches, kneeling soldiers, and a sculpture of a grieving Motherland. However, the tragic chords gradually change into a triumphal chorus: laurel leaves, triumphal arches, bronze wreaths, pyramidal poplars, heroic bas-reliefs, and the 12-meter tall statue of the Soviet Soldier as the final chord of victory. In this way, the vivid metaphor of victory anonymizes death and justifies it as a sacrifice for noble ideals. However, can anything truly legitimize all the horrors of war? Intervention NEVER AGAIN AND AGAIN critically examines the discourse of war and triumph over death in Treptower Park. Through posters with topographical and historical markers of the war in Ukraine, participants decontextualized the 16 sarcophaguses with bas-reliefs that depict the events of World War II and are accompanied by Stalin's quotes in German and Russian. In addition to featuring the pivotal years of the war, the posters also highlight Ukrainian cities, which serve as overall categories and represent savage brutality toward civilians, mass deaths, destruction, and occupation of Ukraine's cities. The three dots at the end symbolize frustration and agony about the further tragic consequences that the war in Ukraine may still cause. The intervention addresses the German and Russian public and aims to encourage reflection on collective responsibility, solidarity, and empathy in the context of the tragic events in Ukraine

140 cm x 300 cm each, watercolour on paper

With the support of Nazar Salutan, Emanuel Schuster and all participants

Polina Stohnushko, Intervention NEVER AGAN AND AGAIN, 2022, Berlin, Photos: Lars Conrad