A powerful signal against oblivion: In Oswiecim/Auschwitz the Birkenau Paintings by Gerhard Richter are now accessible to the public. The four world-famous works by the artist are being displayed in a pavilion built specifically for this purpose.
The four pictures which Gerhard Richter entitled Birkenau are based on the unique photos that were taken secretly to document the murder of Jewish people in Auschwitz. The photos were taken in the Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp, close to the crematorium and gas chamber No.5, by members of the Sonderkommando – a special work unit made up from Jewish prisoners. The photographs were smuggled out of the camp in a toothpaste tube and handed over to members of the Polish Resistance.
Gerhard Richter’s exhibition concept also includes the idea of a four-part set of grey mirrors installed opposite the series of paintings. The artist has already realized this concept in Berlin, New York, Moscow, Dresden and other cities.
And it was this concept that Gerhard Richter wanted to be shown in Oswiecim as well. The pavilion has been designed exclusively for his works which have been donated to the International Auschwitz Committee by the Gerhard Richter Art Foundation. They are listed in Gerhard Richter’s catalogue of works under the numbers CR 958 1-12.
The Birkenau Paintings are regarded as one of the Cologne artist’s greatest works. Time and again Richter altered, painted over and blurred the motifs. The colours in the four paintings are limited to a palette of black, grey, red and green.
Some time ago Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, asked Gerhard Richter if he could imagine an exhibition of his Birkenau Paintings at the International Youth Meeting Centre in Oswiecim/Auschwitz. And, from the very beginning, the artist responded with great interest and enthusiasm to this inquiry.
After Gerhard Richter and Christoph Heubner – in close contact with the management of the International Youth Meeting Centre – had looked into a variety of locations at the centre for the envisaged exhibition, it became increasingly clear that the overall concept could only be realized within a building created especially for this purpose. The artist was involved in the discussion surrounding the design of ‘his’ exhibition pavilion from the very start. And it was of great importance to him that his pictures would find their home in Oswiecim, just a few kilometres away from the place where the photos originated. After that Gerhard Richter developed a dedicated architectural design for the exhibition pavilion that would eventually become home to the print edition of his pictures, the four-part grey mirrors and the four facsimiles of the original photographs. This marked the advent of the first Gesamtkunstwerk in Richter’s artistic oeuvre.
Starting in 2020, the idea of the Gerhard Richter Birkenau exhibition pavilion in Oswiecim was gradually developed by Christoph Heubner, Gerhard Richter and Sabine Moritz-Richter in co-operation with the International Auschwitz Committee, the foundation for the International Youth Meeting Centre in Oswiecim /Auschwitz, Director Joanna Kleczar-Deodat and Director Albert Szalas, as well as the city of Oswiecim. Gerhard Richter’s architectural design was accompanied during the planning and construction phases by the architect Edwin Heinz-GMS Architekten PartGmbH Isny/Allgäu, and the architectural office Susul&Strama Architekci Oswiecim.
The Gerhard Richter Birkenau exhibition pavilion was made possible through the generous funding of Volkswagen Group who once again are reaffirming their longstanding financial, political and educational support for the Memorial and the International Youth Meeting Centre.
The Gerhard Richter Birkenau exhibition pavilion was opened on 9 February 2024, the artist’s 92nd birthday, by Wolfgang Schmidt, Head of the Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Affairs, together with Daniela Cavallo representing Volkswagen as chairwoman of the Group, General and local Works Council, and Marian Turski, Auschwitz survivor and President of the International Auschwitz Committee, together with Sabine Moritz-Richter, the artist’s wife, Janusz Chwierut, President of the city of Oswiecim, and Krzystof Kleczar, Voivode of Lesser Poland.
For Christoph Heubner, the opening of the exhibition marked the fulfilment of a long-standing aim. The desire to strengthen the position of the city of Oswiecim in the everyday combination of past, present and future, and to clearly show that the worldwide artistic confrontation with Auschwitz and the Shoah is being constantly renewed, and will also find its place here.
Photos of the opening ceremony
