The Whole Truth or…A Day in The Jewish Museum in Berlin

Disclaimer: This post is a very deep post. It contains my personal emotional and thought provoking experiences of visiting The Jewish Museum in Berlin. I write about this because this visit has impacted me a lot and I would love to share this because this blog is about my art work and my life as an artist. My art is often very emotional and a lot of my art work is influenced by experiences like this one. I would like to ask to keep any comments respectful – this is a very sensitive topic and I must say I am a bit scared to write about it.

I will not tolerate any hate-related comments. If you feel the need to do so- you are welcome to go to a far remote place in blog land and never ever return back to this website – because then this blog is clearly not written with you in mind!

 

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A couple months ago when Julie and I had already scheduled her visit to me, I heard about the Exhibition “The Whole Truth…Everything you always wanted to know about Jews” in The Jewish Museum Berlin. Many controversial newspaper articles can be found about this exhibition especially the part of the exhibition which became known as the “Jew in a Box”. In the exhibition a Jewish Person sits in a kind of a clear box and can be asked questions about Jews and Judaism. When Julie and I heard about it and read the articles we started discussing this a bit. It started as a discussion between an American and a German, a Jew and a non-Jew, two friends striving to understand cultural, historical and religious differences. We decided we would have to go ourselves to Berlin in order to have an opinion about this exhibition. And so we went.

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The building itself is very impressive – there is an old part of the building as well as a new one built by architect Daniel Libeskind. I cannot remember when an architectural building had such a strong emotional impact on me.

Throughout the building Libeskind has created so called voids, empty spaces which represent the absence of Jews from German society.

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One void is called “Holocaust Tower” . It is very oppressive and moving. It’s a 24 meter/78.7 foot high shaft of concrete illuminated by a single source of light.

The other void which left an unbelievable emotional and physical impact on me was a Memory Void containing an installation titled Shalekhet (Fallen Leaves) by Menashe Kadishman. “Over 10,000 open-mouthed faces coarsely cut from heavy, circular iron plates cover the floor”.

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Upon nearing this void Julie and I heard this incredible loud noise which from a far away distance sounded first as a remote noise in a very busy cafe where dishes were clanking together but once we came closer and closer the sound was getting painful and shrill. Visitors are encouraged to walk into the void which turns darker and darker in the end.

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I started stepping on the first faces and I stopped right away, I felt sick to the stomach and could not walk a single step further. I think I have never had this kind of reaction to any art I have ever seen and experienced before.

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The first time we went through the Special Exhibition the clear box was unattended. So we decided to come back later again. At the end of the exhibition we found this huge wall full with post-its where visitors were asked to leave their comments and questions about the exhibition. It was another deep emotional moment to read some of them – in all languages, by all kinds of different people , age groups, countries and faiths. Some post-its were rude and  made me swallow – like one in German that said: “None of my answers were answered by this exhibition and I will continue to have my prejudices” ,- many were written in a very narrow minded religious way – but there were also some like these:

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Later we came back and talked to the woman sitting in the clear box. Julie and I started talking to her and my first question was “How do you feel sitting in this box” and “What was your motivation of volunteering for this” . The answers and stories about her experiences were very touching. From outraged Germans that have ties to Nazi-perpetrators to outraged Jewish people being hurt that she would sit in a box like in a zoo, from Jewish women from the U.S. starting to cry because they could not grasp that a jewish woman would live in Germany to young people asking basic questions about the religion. She told us she had wanted to do this to get to know how people in Germany feel about it because she always felt being asked many a questions anyway when she told her friends she was jewish. What she didn’t expect was how emotionally draining this whole experience would be.

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During our conversation many other people joined our group from all countries, jews and non-jews and we had a very lively and very interesting discussion. It was a wonderful experience the way how we all stood there and talked with each other. And then somehow the amazing woman was not alone in the glass box anymore. She was accompanied by a friend from South America and a man from Germany who said he never makes public to be jewish out of fear for the reaction. I know it is hard to grasp if you haven’t been there or if you are full of prejudices about this exhibition anyway- but this picture and this moment was a moment of peace and made me feel that there is hope for this world.

During and after the visit Julie and I spent many hours talking about our experiences in the museum, thoughts and feelings. It was very deep and open and honest. It also reminded me that art is something that provokes thoughts and feelings. As mentioned several times, this visit in the Jewish Museum has provoked many thoughts and feelings in very different ways in me, and sharing this with a friend is an experience I will always cherish.

Loves

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Nat

 

 

Comments (44)

  • Michelle Guest

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    Wow! A very emotional tour… Thanks for sharing it with us! I think walking on the faces on the floor would be hard to do. Thanks Nat…

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  • Nolene

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    Wow! Thank you for sharing. Your photos are amazing and just reading about your experience (and especially Fallen Leaves) made me emotional.

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  • Riikka

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    Thank you Nathalie for sharing this. The Fallen Leaves made my stomach turn, too. Very powerful pictures and art.

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  • Martha Richardson

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    Thank you for sharing this post. To be able to go with JUlie and shared your experiences together had to have been incredible! I think of my German {well at one time Loetzin,East Prussia} heritage and how affected I have been about the Holocaust & survivors. It’s a story that must be told over & over until people really GET IT!!!!!

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  • Lisa

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    Thank you for posting your experience, Nat. You were able to convey the power and rawness of the subject and the museum. I am particularly moved by your telling of the coming together in conversation at the box, that the woman was then joined by two others, the German man “coming out of the closet” by stepping into one so to speak. Powerful.

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  • Limor

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    Nat!
    I know why I just adore you! One of the many things that’s missing in society is being able to speak with each other and share with each other hard topics in case we offend someone’s opinion so instead we sit and stew, judge others without ever speaking..
    Your post was incredible and reading your experience about the museum was simply an experience for your readers… I was tearful through your whole post as I could feel the weird feeling in your stomach…
    As artists and educators it is so important to keep topics like this alive and continously share and evoke topics that will hopefully in the end bring us all closer together…. I too am Jewish but that’s not what touched me about this. The Jews are not the only religion that has been attacked, there’s other races/religions etc that are still being killed, hurt, judged etc and it is imperative this world starts to operate with love and compassion and understanding…. I really do believe there’s hope and the only way is through education and communication. I believe this post is one of those ways as it opens the doors for discussion. Thank you for opening a door Nat, I’m inspired by your courage to share your experience with your readers….I simply adore you!!! Much love
    Limor

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    • cora mutsemaker

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      Thank you for sharing your feelings , you touched my heart .
      My stomach turned around when I saw the faces. Saw the faces of my
      24 family members taken away during the war .
      Again , thank you for understanding.

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  • Jeni

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    Wow! Thank you for sharing this powerful experience. The 10,000 faces was too much to comprehend. What was at the end, in the darkness? What was the noise?

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    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Jeni the noise was created by the people walking on the faces. It made them literally scream. And in the end you just had to turn around and go all over back. Nat

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  • Joe Rotella

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    Amazing post, amazing museum. When I visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC I left so emotionally drained I couldn’t do anything but crash the rest of the day. I can only imagine how you felt. Walking on the “faces” would have crushed me. I love how art can move an educate like this..stimulate discussion…. stimulate thought and feeling…wow! Thank you for sharing!

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  • Deleted User

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    Oh, Nat! this article is so appealing!…i remember details of this era of terror thru the radio, and also my oldest relatives discussed about this… so i will post on FB because i I want my grandchildren to read these episodes and see those photos! They are our future generation and i want them to learn about this time of horror, which i consider existed for no other reason than mental illness of discrimination. Very many thanks for this!

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  • Susan Kopp

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    Wow, I hadn’t realized I had held my breath reading this post until the end when I took in a huge rush of air. I often wonder peoples collective responses to such a horrific time in history. I learned of the Holocaust 48 years ago in a history class using a magazine article from LOOK magazine in an article about Treblinka. From that moment on I vowed to never forget the pain and suffering of the Jews and to pass on the information so it wouldn’t be lost. My daughter did a paper on it in high school that is now being used to teach this bit of history and yet I am constantly surprised how raw this makes me feel each and every time it comes up in my conscience. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

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  • Vicky

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    I, too, was moved by all the iron faces on the floor. I feel sure that I would not have been able to walk on them. I’m not Jewish but I am an American with German roots and the Holocaust is very disturbing to me as a Christian with a love for Jews and ALL peoples. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “love the sinner, hate the sin.” Thanks for sharing your experience! I would love to visit Germany sometime. My maiden name is Brandenburg. I don’t think you can get much more German than that, eh? :D Wish I had developed an interest in my ancestry before my parents died. I would love to know more about my roots. Maybe someday.

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  • Louise Dahlgren

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    My brother became a conservative Jew in 1977. I became a Jew, along with my husband, in 1998. My brother and I have always felt that we were strange because we never felt comfortable in a “church” setting. We felt we were Jews. Thank you for sharing this museum. Everyone should be uncomfortable when entering a house of horror. Nothing about exterminating life should be tolerated. We, also, must remember that many others, not Jews, were murdered because of sexual preferance, disability, or a child.

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  • Kathy P

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    Thank you for sharing this beautiful and deeply personal experience with us here, Natalie. Very moving, and such an important issue today—and not just for those who are Jewish. In my heart, I believe that it is experiences like this one that really ope our wold view and make us grow as human beings.

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  • Madeline Rains

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    This was so moving, even just with pictures, especially the faces and the voids representing the lack of Jews in Germany. I did not know that prejudice against Jews was still such an issue there. I guess it is everywhere and I am just naive. That man who normally never tells anyone he is Jewish and is sitting in the box? wow.
    My grandfather was a Russian Jew. He was killed when my mom was 13 and my mother’s mother hid the fact that he was Jewish. I don’t know why as I don’t know her. I found out that he was Jewish from my great aunt after my mother died, at 46. She never knew. She strongly embraced the Jewish culture. I wish she could have known. Why such ignorance and fear?

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  • Vicki

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    Hi, Nathalie,
    I want to add my thanks to the others for sharing your experience. Thank you also for the poignant reminder that art can be a means for initiating communication through the soul.

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  • Sharon

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    The only thing I can even say now is…wow! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings Nat….wow! Yea wow!

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  • Jean A Marmo

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    A long time ago, I spent a year in Berlin but never got to visit Auschwitz. I cannot even imagine such a museum but was drawn in by your observations, thoughts and feelings. How powerful and, I am sure, overwhelming. Thank you for sharing.

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  • Tsila Sofer Elguez

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    Thank you for this moving post.

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  • Deleted User

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    Wow…Fallen Leaves made me cry. I can see how this was an emotional day and how nice to be able to share it with a close friend. Brave of you to share.

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  • Corrine

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    Thanks Nathalie for sharing such a deep and personal experience. The museum is so visceral and even seeing your photo of those iron faces brought huge emotion to me. I am not Jewish(my husband is) but I went to visit Auschwitz many many years ago and got to the gates and could not go in because I felt this overwhelming energy from the souls within. I hope the power of that building by Libeskind can be a healing place for many…a place to confront and deal with feelings and history in a way that leads to acceptance. Thank you for being brave enough to share yours and Julie’s experience there. xox

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  • Carole Miller

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    What a wonderful way to share thoughts and experiences! It must have been such a warm experience to share the museum with a dear fellow artist friend, and both of you united by love of art, people, heritage and beliefs. Your unique friendship was made to share this extraordinary experience together. I envy you both. I envy your talent, friendship and opportunity to share such a moving and emotional exhibit that shows how art can cross all boundaries of life.

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  • Thea

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    What a experience is this. Several years ago when i was a teenager i visited Camp Westerbork in Drenthe. It was in the day’s before May the 4th. This is when the Netherlands remembers the victims and fallen soldiers of ww2. To see the railroad where trains came in and the baraks where they lived in. It was horrible. Can’t even imagine how that must have been. I’am so gratefull for the freedom we are living in now. A freedom that was not cheap! If people blame Germany for the war, let them look inside their heart and ask them self: How clean is my country? Because i know from historybooks and storytelling that every country can be blamed for it. So, let’s love one and eachother and never ever ever forget what has happened so we won’t be making the same mistakes again. Thanks for sharing this Nathalie.

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  • Ally

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    It is a brave pos & you are a brave girl for writing it. Thank you for doing so. It sounds like a very eye-opening place. I am so glad you were able to go with a close friend and discuss openly with each other. I so agree with the post-it note showing the world – why not indeed?

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  • misty

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    thank you for sharing this. I have a huge heart for the jewish people and this brought tears to my eyes…especially seeing the faces represented. There is something kind of awesome knowing that you and Julie shared this experience together!

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  • Anne Porretta

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    Nat,
    I held my breath when I saw the topic of your blog. The Holocaust holds deep personal pain for me, as I was a baby survivor at the end of the war. My mother and father were all that was left of a large and loving Jewish family in Poland. Everyone perished in the camps. Thank you for being courageous in posting about this–a museum I didn’t know existed, and one I could never visit.

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