Dark Whispers

Toni Morrison states, “The past is already changing as it is being reexamined, as it is being listened to for deeper resonances.” The discovery of my father’s WWII scrapbook led me on a journey through history. I’ve visited battlefields in France, concentration camps, prisons, and Nazi headquarters in Germany. This project, Dark Whispers, focuses on Berlin.

The remnants of war and atrocity are present throughout the city, in museums, and in countless memorials. The ghosts of those who were murdered are palpable as you wander the streets and come across “stumble-stones,” brass plaques embedded in the cobblestone sidewalk marking the apartments where those who were deported lived. Everything is a metaphor for the horrors that occurred. The white, billowy fluff blowing from cottonwood trees is reminiscent of ash spewed from crematoria chimneys. Tree shadows at night take on an ominous presence.

In the United States, there are increased instances of book banning and attacks on “the other”: LGBTQ individuals and minorities- Jews, Blacks, Muslims, and immigrants. We have seen this before. As the rise of authoritarian rule is spreading worldwide, this inquiry seems even more prescient.