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Kimani delivered a speech to the UN Security Council on 22 February 2022 drew comparisons between the borders of Europe and those of Africa

“Today is the “International Holocaust Remembrance Day – an international memorial day on 27 January commemorating the end of tragedy of the Holocaust that occurred during the Second World War. It commemorates the genocide that resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews and 11 million others.” Wikipedia

Portrait: Dr Irene Hasenberg Butter a Holocaust survivor
“Born in Berlin in 1930, Irene Butter endured the horrors of the Holocaust as a Jewish child coming of age in Nazi-occupied Europe. As the world pauses to remember the genocide that killed millions of Jews, Butter tells CNN’s Clarissa Ward that we must stay vigilant to preserve democratic institutions amid emerging ‘echoes’ of the Holocaust”

‘echoes of the Holocaust‘ – the storming of the United States Capitol 2021. Butter describes the storming of the United States Capitol 6 January 2021 as an attempted coup (Coup d’état) that ‘echoes’ of the Holocaust where she mentions that many participants wearing nazi symbols.
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2021/01/27/holocaust-survivor-irene-butter-intv-ward-pkg-intl-hnk-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/around-the-world/

“What happened in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021, was an attempted coup of our government and an unraveling of the democracy that protects all of our rights. I saw a T-shirt with the words “Camp Auschwitz,” as well as other anti-Semitic symbols and slogans used by the rioters.”
Butter, Irene 26 January 2021, “I witnessed the rise of Nazism firsthand. We must act now to protect American democracy” CNN: Atlanta. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/26/opinions/holocaust-fascism-un-capitol-riots-butter/index.html

Irene Butter’s first person Holocaust memoir, Shores Beyond Shores (2019)
“They are taken to Nazi-controlled prison camps and finally to Bergen-Belsen, where Irene is a fellow prisoner with Anne Frank.”
https://bookshop.org/books/shores-beyond-shores-from-holocaust-to-hope-my-true-story/9781916190801

2021 storming of the United States Capitol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_storming_of_the_United_States_Capitol

Coup d’état
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

International Holocaust Remembrance Day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Holocaust_Remembrance_Day

Today, “It’s only November, yet 2020 is the deadliest year on record for the transgender community.”

“When the Transgender Day of Remembrance first began, trans people were nameless victims in many cases,” Smith wrote in 2014 for The Advocate.

“Our killers would do their best to erase our existence from the world. And law enforcement, the media, and others would continue the job.“
https://www.elle.com/culture/a34660519/transgender-day-of-remembrance-2020/

In Sweden, transgender people are also being murdered in contemporary society, but this can not always be proven as a hate crime the Public Prosecutor’s Office express even if Nazism is involved. In the news articles is not always told that the victime was a transgender person. Read more bellow.

For Trans People Worldwide, The Last Year Was One of the Deadliest on Record. But the Community Has a Long History of Resilience
https://time.com/5914256/transgender-day-of-remembrance-2020/

350 trans and gender-diverse people reported murdered in the last year
https://transrespect.org/en/tmm-update-tdor-2020/

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence
https://www.glaad.org/tdor

Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, a transgender woman,[4] to memorialize the murder of transgender woman Rita Hester in Allston, Massachusetts.[5] It has slowly evolved from the web-based project started by Smith into an international day of action. In 2010, TDoR was observed in over 185 cities throughout more than 20 countries.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_Day_of_Remembrance

Trans Day of Remembrance 2020:
Fighting for our futures​ “Day after day, trans people around the world fight for our human rights and social justice. Year after year, we demand that trans people are protected from violence. We demand that our human rights are respected. We demand our right to live.”
https://tgeu.org/joint-statement-tdor-2020/

Transgender Day Of Remembrance 2020: Murdered, Suffocated And Burned Alive – 350 Transgender People Killed In 2020
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiewareham/2020/11/11/350-transgender-people-have-been-murdered-in-2020-transgender-day-of-remembrance-list/

It is not always told in articles that it was a crime against a trans person who was murdered as in this series of articles by SVT and SR:

SVT (31 May 2017) Another person convicted of murdering 61-year-old woman in Långshyttan
https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/dalarna/sa-blir-domen-i-langshyttan-mordet

SR (28 August 2017) No new trial on the murder in Långshyttan
https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/6765325

SVT (February 10, 2017) The Långhytte Murder: Ten convicted after the brutal murder
https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/dalarna/langshyttemordet-langa-fangelsestraff-vantas

SVT (December 22, 2016) The lawyer: “Like a British detective story”
https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/dalarna/sista-rattegangsdagen-i-langshyttemordet

While other articles tells about Nazism in the case

Dalademokraten (6 Feb 2017) Main characters in the Långshytt murder went in the Nazi march in Borlänge
https://www.dalademokraten.se/artikel/huvudpersoner-i-langshyttemordet-gick-i-nazistmarschen-i-borlange

“This is Nazi NMR – The Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement is, according to Säpo, the biggest threat, within the white power environment, to Sweden’s internal security.”
https://www.dalademokraten.se/artikel/live-tv-nu-tagar-hundratals-nazister-genom-borlange-dt-sander-direkt

Aftonbladet (10 February 2017) The murder in Långshyttan is not a hate crime
“NMR, which is considered by Säpo to be the right-wing extremist organization that constitutes the greatest threat to Sweden’s internal security, is a party that through revolution wants to create a Nordic National Socialist republic. The organization has also called for violence against LGBTQ people.”
https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/kolumnister/a/9Jyyr/mordet-i-langshyttan-inget-hatbrott

All sources [Accessed 20/11/2020].

If COVID-19 is spreading in your community, stay safe by taking some simple precautions, such as physical distancing, wearing a mask, keeping rooms well ventilated, avoiding crowds, cleaning your hands, and coughing into a bent elbow or tissue. Check local advice where you live and work. Do it all!

Maintain at least a 1-metre distance between yourself and others to reduce your risk of infection when they cough, sneeze or speak. Maintain an even greater distance between yourself and others when indoors. The further away, the better. Make wearing a mask a normal part of being around other people.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public (2020)
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public

Here are the basics of how to wear a mask:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciUniZGD4tY&feature=youtu.be

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Frequently Asked Questions
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): How is it transmitted? (updated on 20 October 2020)
COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which spreads between people, mainly when an infected person is in close contact with another person. Read More:
https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-how-is-covid-19-transmitted

Stay safe and protect yourself and other

Today is it 30 years since the fall. Do you appreciate your freedom?

PainterThierry Noir. Photo licens: Kilometer Kunst Bethaniendamm, Berlin Kreuzberg, 1986. Author de:Benutzer:Noir. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Thierry-Noir-Bethaniendamm04.jpg

“Thierry Noir is a French artist who is claimed to be the first street artist to paint the Berlin Wall.[1] His brightly colored paintings, which often feature cartoon-like profiles, are now considered iconic and can still be seen on the East Side Gallery. He currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany.[2]. In April 1984, Noir and Christophe-Emmanuel Bouchet started to paint the Berlin Wall, eventually painting 1 kilometre of it.[6] Initially, the attitude of West Berliners to Noir’s work was wary, often even hostile. Some believed that he was working for budget money and were against such spending of money from his taxes. Others believed that Tieri’s task was to make a more “presentable” wall, which they could not agree with.[5]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Noir

What is the cultural legacy of the fall of the Wall?

The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer, pronounced [bɛʁˈliːnɐ ˈmaʊ̯ɐ] (About this soundlisten)) was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989.[1] Construction of the Wall was commenced by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) on 13 August 1961. …For many years after reunification, people in Germany talked about cultural differences between East and West Germans (colloquially Ossis and Wessis), sometimes described as Mauer im Kopf (The wall in the head). A September 2004 poll found that 25 percent of West Germans and 12 percent of East Germans wished that East and West should be separated again by a “Wall”. (Wikipedia Berlin Wall)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 would send out new shock waves as a start to globalization later with the new media corporations succeeding military colonization. During the 1980s, transnational companies mainly expanded from the United States, which went hand in hand with the spread of neoliberalism (Fulcher & Scott 2011: 383).

Exhibition at the National Museum Stockholm: 1989 – culture and politics
“This fall’s exhibition at the National Museum revolves around one of history’s most dramatic moments, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.… The exhibition includes documentary photos, portraits, posters, video and design by artists, photographers and designers such as Richard Avedon, Ron Arad, Cecilia Edefalk, Nan Goldin, Willliam Kentridge, Barbara Kruger, Boris Mikhailov, Tracey Moffatt, Ingrid Orfali, Ingegerd Råman, Philippe Starck, Lars Tunbjörk, Pia Wallén and Andres Serrano. … The political upheavals in Eastern Europe continued during the following years. Free elections were held in a number of countries, the two German states reunited on October 3, 1990, and the Soviet Union disbanded at the end of 1991. In Yugoslavia, the development following the collapse of communism led to a protracted war. ”
https://www.nationalmuseum.se/utst%C3%A4llningar/1989-kultur-och-politik

In a radio program “Europapodden” about the fall of the wall the question arises if many does not appreciate their freedom in Germany? The middle of the politic parties has been weakened? Many people are not longer feeling they are represented by the establishment?
Många uppskattar inte sin frihet (SR 5 Nov 2019) https://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/1388164?programid=4941

European policy is being pushed further and further towards the outer edges as professor Stefan Hedlund writes? Is it a choice between the neoliberalism and the nationalism? ”Europeisk politik drivs allt längre ut mot ytterkanterna” (2017 SVD)
https://www.svd.se/europeisk-politik-drivs-allt-langre-ut-mot-ytterkanterna

Another artist who invites spectators on the changes in postwar Berlin is Shimon Natti, who creates works in his series “Writings on the wall” (1991-2) through video projection of old archival photos with motifs of dynamic Jewish folk life before the Holocaust that Nattie projects to the downtrodden. buildings in the old Jewish Quarter as a juxtaposition. Many parts of Berlin are still abandoned since the war when large parts were bombed. Here are reactions from the non-Jewish residents who feel that they are accused either of being profiteers of the extermination of the Jews or of being accused of being Jews themselves, which perhaps shows that this has not changed much?
(Kalb 2013: 150).

Artist Shimon Natti projekt page
http://shimonattie.net/portfolio/the-writing-on-the-wall/

Human Right Watch: Germans Reflect on 30 Years Since Fall of Berlin Wall
“The debates this week also show that Germany still faces many human rights problems. Human Rights Watch’s annual review lists attacks on migrants, xenophobia, and anti-semitism among such concerns. Yet unity means Germans, wherever they live, have for 30 years been able to rely on state institutions, built on the rule of law, to tackle such problems. That is an achievement – and one worth celebrating.” https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/11/04/germans-reflect-30-years-fall-berlin-wall

///// Sources and more art history reading about the Berlin Wall:

Kalb R. Peter (2013), Art since 1980: Charting the contemporary, Laurence King Publishing:
London.

Khan Academy
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/architecture-20c/a/the-berlin-wall-as-a-political-symbol-edit

Fulcher James & John Scott (2011), Sociology, Oxford University Press: Oxford

List of Berlin Wall Segments (art works)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Berlin_Wall_segments

Piece of Berlin Wall, a gift of Germany, unveiled at UN garden (2002)
https://news.un.org/en/story/2002/04/31462-piece-berlin-wall-gift-germany-unveiled-un-garden

Många uppskattar inte sin frihet (5 Nov 2019)
https://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/1388164?programid=4941

/////////////////////////////

Art history must be rewritten? When does the Swedish state build a Hilma Af Klints museum in Sweden?

Artist: Hilma Af Klint 1862 – 1944. Exhibition at Millesgården.

The new brilliant film about the artist: BEYOND THE VISIBLE – HILMA AF KLINT – Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1e4OXGkim0

Now exhibition at Millesgården 5 OCT 2019 – 9 FEB 2020:
PAINTING AND SPIRITUALITY HILMA AF KLINT – TYRA KLEEN – LUCIE LAGERBIELKE
https://www.millesgarden.se/current-exhibitions.aspx

“What Kandinsky did not know is that a Swedish painter by the name of Hilma af Klint had created her first abstract painting in her Stockholm studio in 1906”
https://www.tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue-27-spring-2013/first-abstract-artist-and-its-not-kandinsky?fbclid=IwAR3d0tYRNB-COf7dY3Vq4VsS_azJNXCRgRR8h1VMmne21Uz_c5dI4s8sr0E

Or, did Kandinsky know about Hilmas paintings? The film proposes that it might be possible by Rudolf Steiner’s photos of her paintings?

“In 1906, after 20 years of artistic works, and at the age of 44, Hilma af Klint painted her first series of abstract paintings. ”
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilma_af_Klint

“The Stonewall riots (also referred to as the Stonewall uprising or the Stonewall rebellion) were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBT) community[note 1] against a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. They are widely considered to constitute the most important event leading to the gay liberation movement[1][2][3][4] and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States. …The events that took place at the Stonewall Inn led to the first gay pride parades in the United States and in many other countries. On June 28, 1970, a march was led from Greenwich Village to the Sheep Meadow in Central Park”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Inn

About the artwork on the spot The Gay Liberation Monument (1992) is a monument with a statue of Gay Liberation by the artist George Segal (1924 – 2000). The park with the monument is located in the Greenwich Village area of ​​New York. Segal’s monument is within the nationally registered Stonewall National Monument which includes Christopher Street and Christopher Park opposite the Stonewall Inn which was the bar where the rebellion began. The uprising was about the police raiding raids against gay bars to get bribes on scattering permits

There are four figures representing a pair of men and a couple of women. The sculptures have a white surface similar to plaster. Couple of women sitting on a bench and couple of men standing up. Both couples hold each other together in a tender and close relationship. Shows an everyday scene.

The sculptures are made of bronze and white-lacquered. They were plaster casts of people They were cast already in 1980 but were not allowed to be the first in New York. Only in 1992 were they moved to New York and were inaugurated as part of the monument. Inscription: GAY LIBERATION / BY / GEORGE SEGAL / BRONZE CAST – 1980 / DEDICATED – 1992 / — / GIFT OF THE MILDRED ANDREWS FUND / TO THE CITY OF NEW YORK /

Segal figures tell of a scene that looks like everyday life played on a quiet day in the park as in a tableaux scene. The white color gives a kind of spooky and melancholy expression and they have some kind of anonymity. There is criticism of the choice of artist because George Segal is heterosexual and not LGBT.

How can this work broaden the discourse on memory and history?

Are they excessive stereotypes like the artist’s Kara Walker? The monument is called Gay Liberation, which associates Stonewall with the gay fight for rights to be publicly visible and protected with the same rights in society. During this time in the 80s and early 90s, transgender people were not integrated into the LGBT movement which was only talked about as Gay & Lesbian. The four figures are white and look like middle class.

Stonewall rebellion led by the people most harassed by the police; the colored transgender people at the bar. The two most famous were the black transgender Marsha P. Jonsson 25 years who performed there at the bar as a drag artist and the Puerto Rican transgender Silvia Rivera 17 years. Marscha who were the first to attack a police car at the bar would later be murdered in 1992 (Wikipedia, Marsha P. Johnson). But in 1973, Silvia had spoken in Washington Square Parc where she accused the gay movement of being racist, excluded and transphobic (Wikipedia, Sylvia Rivera). Everyday life for transgender people was full of violence, abuse, police brutality, prison and poverty shown in the documentary Major! (2014).

But immediately after the uprising, transgender people of the larger minority homosexuals were not accepted at demonstrations, but they had to wait until the year 2000 to be accepted in the LGBT narrative. Instead, the myth of the homosexuals created that they themselves led the Stonewall uprising. It is this memory and historiography that Segal uses in the same way as the artist Eleanor Antin’s mother’s memory of Vilnius; romanticized, embellished and fictitious.

Here it turns out how complex our personal memories work. Interactive memory that is socialized with others and influences how our history writing is constructed at different levels both through selection and mythology. Some stereotypes are created to create our new visions of society and other people who have contributed to art, philosophy and culture may be omitted entirely for creating the new visions? Much like when a perched stone statue of an unwanted female pharaoh is sentenced to oblivion? We can all lack memory pictures we have never had? A sense of emptiness that is greater than the rational? Over time, can we all learn to coexist?

references

Kalb R. Peter (2013), Art since 1980: Charting the contemporary, Laurence King Publishing:London.

Gay Liberation Monument
[Accessed 28/06/19]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Liberation_Monument