Unter Zwang / Forced

An abstract and subtle memorial, Susanne Albrecht’s sculpture keeps the memory of an often conveniently suppressed epoch on Bielefeld’s Johannisberg alive.

During the Nazi aera, this was the site of the Bethlem forced labour camp, the largest of its kind in the city, which was run by the Dürkoppwerke, at the time an arms factory. From around 1942 to 1944, so-called foreign workers (Eastern workers and prisoners of war) were forced to live and work here under harsh conditions.

Even after its restoration in 2008, Johannisberg has typically been advertised as a “picturesque hilltop south-east of Bielefeld’s old town” and a popular destination for outings. Susanne Albrecht’s memorial is an unmistakable statement against forgetting that nonetheless blends in harmoniously with the park. It is a massive concrete slab whose heaviness is counteracted by the invisibly mounted supports, which makes it appear to float. Five circular recesses offer just enough space for the specially planted thorn apple trees to grow through. Thorn apples become very gnarly with age, which distinguishes them significantly from the oaks that were planted at the same time. Even so, the trees form a kind of avenue between the paved paths.

With its abstract formal language, the sculpture manages at the same time to be a warning against the coercive mechanisms of totalitarian governments and an expression of hope in the indomitability of life. This interpretation is not forced on the beholder. The sculpture can easily be used as a stage or bench, which has made it a natural part of the design of Johannisberg, in the same way as remembering its past ought to be.

The installation of this memorial was made possible by the involvement of many citizens and institutions of the city who formed the “Initiativkreis Skulptur ‘Unter Zwang’” (Sculpture ‘Unter Zwang’ Initiative). Further information about the Bethlem Forced Labour Camp is provided along with the sculpture: The Corten steel ground monument on the square shows the ground plan of one of the barracks, with an information desk about the Bethlem camp and the sculpture installed next to it. An additional information board is located at the city’s newly-built info point on Johannisberg. The ensemble also includes a memorial stone erected in the late 1980s. In addition, an exhibition about the NS forced labour camps on Johannisberg was organised at the neighbouring farmhouse museum in 2015.

https://www.ausstellung-unter-zwang-bielefeld.de/

http://susanne-albrecht.info/unter-zwang/

Video of the sculpture:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvbpE4qXJ0k