Photographs of memory: Dirk Reinartz shows dead silence in the castle park

Photographs of memory: Dirk Reinartz shows dead silence in the castle park

On October 3, 2025, the exhibition “Totenstill” by Dirk Reinartz opened its doors in the cube in Weitmar Castle Park, part of Situation Kunst. The exhibition, which will be on view until November 30, 2025, presents photographs taken in former concentration camps between 1987 and 1993. Reinartz, who lived from 1947 to 2004 and is considered an influential photographer in Germany, addresses the structural relics of these camps and the associated loss as well as the atrocities of National Socialism in his work.

At the opening on October 1, 2025 at 7 p.m. in the underground museum, Dr. Eva Wruck, the curator of the Situation Art Foundation, the guests. Introductory words were given by Thomas Krüger, President of the Federal Agency for Civic Education. The Ensemble Compania, an ensemble for new music from the Münster Symphony Orchestra, provided musical accompaniment to the evening.

The photographer and his work

Dirk Reinartz studied with Otto Steinert at the Folkwang University and had a significant influence on reportage photography and photojournalism in Germany. His commissioned works have appeared in renowned publications such as Stern, art and ZEITmagazin. In his series “totenstill” from 1994, Reinartz devotes himself to the German culture of remembrance by emphasizing the absence of people in his photographs. This visual emptiness reinforces the themes of loss and inhumanity.

His photographs invite you to examine the architectural language of the concentration camps and are intended to stimulate enlightenment. Reinartz also asks about the relationship between history and the present and addresses the influence of the Nazi era on German identity.

A look into the past of art

The experiences of the Second World War and the horrors of National Socialism not only led to a reassessment of German history, but also to a profound change in the art landscape. After the National Socialists came to power, many artists who were not of “Aryan” descent or who did not fit into the ideological mold were excluded from art production. The founding of the Reich Chamber of Culture in 1933 under Joseph Goebbels was intended to bring the art scene into line and control it, thereby irrevocably ending the diversity of artistic expression in the Weimar Republic.

Meanwhile, critical reflections on this history can be found in Reinartz's works. The photographs not only represent documentation, but also call for social vigilance and a constant questioning of how we deal with memory and responsibility.

The exhibition opening times are Wednesday to Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. The entry price is 3 euros, reduced 1 euro, while schoolchildren and students at the Ruhr University have free entry. After the exhibition in Bochum, the photographs will be on display at the Kunsthalle Rostock from December 18, 2025 to March 15, 2026. Brochures accompanying the exhibition were created, and the exhibition was organized in cooperation with several institutions, including the Fritz Bauer Forum and the Jewish Community of Bochum.

The “Totenstill” exhibition not only offers visual access to a dark chapter in German history, but also stimulates deep reflection on the responsibility of the current generation. It therefore remains a relevant and necessary forum for the questions that shape the present.