A short visit to hell

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

This is the intro image to my latest little series created in Potsdam during my visit last weekend there.
I will add images as they are edited.
The title will reveal itself very soon.
Sans Souci("Without Sorrow") is the famous summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia in Potsdam

Cheers
~Chris

Chapter One: The ouverture

Sans Souci Silhouette Sans Souci: Figurine No.1 Sans Souci: Frederick the Great Tomb Slab (People put potatoes on his grave - its a custom) Sans Souci: Figurine No.3 (CTO gelled flash, like the one before)

[petermfiore]

I always thought it to be a one way trip. Good to know a visit is possible.

Peter

[petermfiore]

Good fiction!!!
On theDante.
Peter

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

You will see. The next shots are already in the pipeline.
Cheers
~ Chris

[BernardLanguillier]

Love the first one!

Cheers,
Bernard

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

Potsdam is very beautiful these days.
I believe in 2 weeks spring is going to explode there.
I was a bit early but still could get a glimpse of spring coming.

Cheers
~Chris




Chapter 2: Spring is coming !

Spring is coming! No.1 Spring Scene, New Garden Potsdam Spring is coming! No.2

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

Speaking of beauty:
Potsdam has a lot of really beautiful houses which get restored step by step.
Sans Souci is just the most famous of the many historical buildings.
These photographs are just to give a short impression about what is there.
It would be a whole very big project on its own to document all this.
The diary is a very nice restaurant where people go drink beer in summer at the riverside of the Havel.
Cheers
~Chris



Chapter 3: Beautiful history

Facade, Potsdam Egyptian entrance to the orangery, New Garden Potsdam The Diary Farm, New Garden Potsdam Uhlan Guard Casern Detail, Potsdam

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

Speaking of history - there also is not so beautiful history
and that is where we approach hell.

The following images were made inside the former prison of the former GDR secret police.
This building has a winded history, which is full of horrors in the newer times.
The baroque palais was originally built 1734 to 1737 as a mansion and served various purposes
in the following 200 years from being a Prussian commanders house to a french horses hospital.
From 1933 to 1945 during the time of Nazi terror it was a remand prison for the politically haunted and
it was a court enforcing sterilisation upon 4200 people.
1945-1952 it served as a Soviet court-martial.
From 1952 to 1989 it was a secret police prison of the former GDR.
Today the building serves as memorial place and center of information.
They are rebuilding their website http://www.gedenkstaette-lindenstrasse.de/ (seems it's not yet finsished).

When after the war the social democrats and the communists were forced to unite into the SED party
as a single socialist party there were official celebrations where everyone had to go.
Pupils were obliged to visit the ceremonies with their school classes and they had to wear red pinks.
Some were wearing white pinks as a sign of protest.
Some of these kids wearing the non-official white pinks were arrested.
Some of the arrested were brought to the Soviet Union - and executed - since it wasn't possible to easily execute them In the Russian Zone / GDR.
Kids - 14 years old ...
And that is only one of the stories ...

There will be a bunch of images coming up, these are the first batch.
The images are not 100% strictly documentary.
I altered them to match my personal view of the place.
E.G. the lamp light in the 4th image in this post was photoshopped,
but I think this is actually the biggest alteration to reality I allowed myself
apart from general photographical tools like contrast, color, sharpness and such.
I didn't add anything entirely new or fake to the images.
So - I'd say it's about 99% documentary.

The whole photo series about the prison will be visible here.

Cheers
~Chris




Chapter 4: Entering Hell

Entering Hell: Guardians Office Guardians Storage Stairway to Watchmens Lookout In the Prison Yard

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

The yard of the prison is full of documentation of the paranoia of the past system from their critics.
Cameras, anti escape claws, alarm wires ...
Later we'll go inside ...

Cheers
~Chris


Chapter 5: The Yard of Paranoia

Prison Yard Anti Escape Claw These were everywhere ... Observation Camera No.2 Yard Airing Cell  Some fake humanity ... Prison Yard Gully Reminded me of a cell block ...

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

The complete and now finished series can be seen here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/feldhaim/sets/72157643273515764/

I'm adding some more chapters to this thread to make it round.
Compared to the stay of the people who have been imprisoned in this place
the torment from viewing these images will be really short and negligible.

Cheers
~Chris


Chapter 6: More Paranoia

More Paranoia Even More Paranoia Anti Escape Claw No.4 Observation Camera No.3

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

Time to enter hell, though not yet the deepest pit ...
Cheers
~Chris



Chapter 7: Going Inside

Prison Staircase Corridor and Cells Cell Door A Reconstructed Prison Cell

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

Almost all cell windows got replaced with glass blocks.
So no one could hear you outside.
The alarm lights indicated prisoner transports.
The wire mesh prevented prisoners in transit to jump down and suicide.
The floor phone guaranteed a quick alarm line.
There were many details to this madness ...
Cheers
~Chris


Chapter 8: Details of the Madness

Glass Blocks Alarm Light No.1 Wire Mesh Floor Phone

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

Describing the main colors of this place the dark almost black places,
the sort-of-white but still dirty places and the feculent green color of the walls
and the fluorescent lights come to my mind ...
But we are not yet at the bottom of hell ...
Cheers
~Chris


Chapter 9: Black, white and the feculent green

Basin Sitz Bath Cell Luxury? I associate something different here ... Prison Bath Cell No.2 Dark Cell No.1

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

This is the last chapter in this thread and the point where we reach the deepest pit, the darkest hole, the 10th ring of hell as I name it here.

There were two cells, where up to 20 political prisoners (per cell) had to lay on the wooden makeshift bed, side by side.
On command the one on the side had to turn, then the next and so on until all had turned.
If one did not turn the guards knew they had to pull the corpse out.
There was no ventilation except one little hole in the cell door, which still could be closed.
The pot was the toilet substitute and emptied only once a week.
(Personal information given by a former prisoner who had to suffer these circumstances.
He broke out in sweat when coming down to the place - a post traumatic flashback more than 40 years after the events.)

Cheers
~Chris


Chapter 10: The 10th ring of hell: The deepest pit

The Hole No.1 The Hole No.2 The Hole No.3 The Hole No.4 The Hole No.5

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

If you want to see the whole series and maybe read some additional comments:
It can be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/feldhaim/sets/72157643273515764/

For me this visit was not entirely new - I had already seen a similar place:
Hohenschönhausen in Berlin.

Still - despite being prepared I felt altered a couple of days after my visit and the very touching experience with the former prisoner who
had to experience this place during Soviet occupation time and later when the GDR secret police was in charge.

I know there was a bit of repetition and for the last chapter this was intentional.
I hope this thread still was a bit informative and the visuals gave you
a sense of the atmosphere (or lack thereof).
After all it was just
a very short
visit
to
hell.

Thanks for watching!

Cheers
~Chris

[Iluvmycam]

Nice, I like 2,3,4 best.

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

Honestly, I feel slightly confused reading the word "nice" in relation to this series,
though I understand it was meant as a friendly comment.

I have the feeling the subject of this series is so overwhelming,
that it is hard to see it as a photographic project any longer.
I sort of feel overpowered by the subject.

The days after the visit I experienced some cognitive dysfunctions,
like messing up dates, confounding people and such.
One day I had wild mood changes and a strong a feeling of senselessness.
After all I think such a visit does more to us than we might realize in the first moment.
The extreme atmosphere creeps in, hides and shows up later.
I made some images of trees and their shadows in the park after that - very dark images full of brooding menace.

I think I'll look for something more cheerful as my next project.

Cheers
~Chris

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Chris,

The word "nice" does apply to a lot of your work, but this set is very different. You start with some very pleasant scenes, and then very gradually lead us on a slow, downward spiral, eventually into "hell."

The straight, "journalistic" way you present each image, while descending so gradually until we reach the "hole" is quite amazing and very evocative. This is a very powerful series, and I thank you for sharing it.

Eric

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

Chris,

The word "nice" does apply to a lot of your work, but this set is very different. You start with some very pleasant scenes, and then very gradually lead us on a slow, downward spiral, eventually into "hell."

The straight, "journalistic" way you present each image, while descending so gradually until we reach the "hole" is quite amazing and very evocative. This is a very powerful series, and I thank you for sharing it.

Eric

Thanks Eric!

You describe exactly the plot I laid out for this thread.
It reflects the same sequence of experience I had there:
From a nice visit to a beautiful town in spring, entering
a building and getting involved into the history of it with
the final Apex being the visit of that horrible hole in the basement
and the story I was told by that former prisoner.

As I described I had a visit to a similar and even more popular place
 - Hohenschönhausen in Berlin - not far away.
I even met a former prisoner there - they actually work as guides there.
But this time I took photographs, which amplified and prolonged the experience into the postprocessing.

This vist and working on that series was something special.
And my impression is it worked  - very well actually.
After the nature of that "hell" was revealed, I think the audience was overstrained,
just like me. From some funny, playful remarks to silence.

I am guessing, people want to leave the images untouched, don't want to comment,
because the subject matter here does not allow that kind of nitpicking as we often do.

So - I can be happy with the result - the silence which was evoked sort of tells
what I did with that series, that the message came across and I could share my experience.

Also what we can lean from this series again is:
Content is king - even if it's very dark content.

Cheers
~Chris