When all ears could hear
The students of the master's program Applied Theater at the Thomas Bernhard Institute, together with Ulrike Hatzer and Trace Müller deal with Salzburg's "shadow stories" and with the forced labor camp in Maxglan/Leopoldskroner Moos in a participatory documentary theater project. If, when and why are painful pasts and shadow histories remembered?
Master's Project of the Master's Programme Applied Theatre
24-26 June 2021
from 15.00-20.00
Schwarzgrabenweg on the Glan/Kräutlerweg, Maxglan
The city of Salzburg is full of "shadow stories". One of these is the story of the forced labor camp Maxglan, where 200-300 Rom*nja and Sinti*zze were imprisoned between 1940 and 1943. Many of these people were later deported to Nazi concentration camps and murdered there. The only thing that could be recovered is a list of names and fragments of biographical data. Some of the fellow citizens who fell victim to the crimes of the Nazis remain nameless to this day. While the actual site of the forced labor camp remains unmarked and invisible, these stories are once again forgotten. Master's students from the Applied Theatre program are therefore working on a temporary audio installation that explores the possibility of active and living memory. "When All Ears Could Hear" is placed along the Glan River (at the height of Kräutlerweg), where Rom*nja and Sinti*zze performed forced labor for the Nazis. The installation consists of personal, recorded letters addressed to the known as well as the nameless prisoners of the camp. It invites people to actively remember the former prisoners and opposes the tendency of active amnesia and erasure of these stories. Together with Salzburg's Roma and Sinti communities, the students want to reflect on this shadow history, uncover connections to the present, and create space for voices, narratives, songs, and words. A walk-in sound installation will be created in an outdoor area in Maxglan. Here you can read the report in Der Standard
