Sculpture “Wege”

Frank Haase
Sculpture “Wege” (Ways) in Iserlohn-Letmathe
Art in public space: railroad track, stainless steel, 2009
110 x 25 x 35 cm

My sculpture “Wege” (Ways), which has been installed in the Church of Peace in Letmathe since October 29, 2009, uses a piece of railroad track as a symbol for the escape and for the transports to the extermination camps. The addresses of the Jews living in Letmathe in 1938 are omitted in the web – that part of the rail that physically has to bear the entire load of the rail transport. And as if thousands of train wheels had pushed them into the railway, the warning words “OPEN YOUR MOUTH FOR THE MUTE” (Proverbs 31: 8) are embedded in the head of the rail. The words not only serve as a reminder, they also urge us today to open our eyes and mouths to injustice and violence.