Letter of the IAC to the Mayor of Pulheim

Town Hall of Pulheim
The Mayor
Dr Karl August Morisse
Alte Kölner Str. 26
50259 Pulheim

via fax: 02238/808442

Berlin, 14 March 2006

Dear Sir,

We are noting with relief that the municipal authorities of Pulheim have suspended the action of the Spanish artist Santiago Sierra in the former synagogue of Pulheim for the moment. The project of the artist itself is tasteless. The survivors of the concentration camps who have witnessed, how thousands of their family members were driven into the gas chambers in Auschwitz and other places – without gasmasks, without fire brigades escorting them and without return – have considered this action brutal and heartless. Therefore we hope that the suspension of the spectacle will be definite.

Permit us, dear Sir, one question that will perhaps explain our feelings in view of this egocentric and weird action: What would be your reaction and that of the municipal authorities, if Mr. Sierra had asked for permission to direct waste gas from six cars into the councillors’ meeting room of the Town Hall as an action to remind of the fact that the exclusion, persecution and deportation of local German Jewish families to the extermination camps was organized in German town halls?

Yours faithfully,

Christoph Heubner
IAC Vice-President

NB: In view of the broad public discussion please permit us to make this letter public. We ask you for your understanding.

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