Dagmar Schwelle:
”Die da drüben – Geteilte Grenzstädte in Europa” (Those over there – Divided border towns in Europe)
Having grown up in Vienna, very close to the former Iron Curtain, I wanted to explore the ways in which the internal maps of Europeans have changed since 1989. For my research I chose four divided border cities, those strange places that resulted from the upheavals of the twentieth century. In České Velenice/Gmünd on the Czech/Austrian border and in Guben/Gubin on the border between Germany and Poland, I was able to observe how difficult it is to overcome decades of separation. In contrast, Narva/Ivangorod (Estonia/Russia) and Valka/Valga (Latvia/Estonia) showed how quickly newly erected borders can cause neighbors to become estranged.
I took photographs to capture both the things that unite and those that separate the divided towns. In addition, I interviewed residents about their identity and that of the people on the other side of the border. I also asked them about east and west and about Europe. The interviews showed that there is considerable confusion on all these issues – even directly on the borders that purportedly create identity and preserve order.
Having grown up in Vienna, very close to the former Iron Curtain, I wanted to explore the ways in which the internal maps of Europeans have changed since 1989. For my research I chose four divided border cities, those strange places that resulted from the upheavals of the twentieth century. In České Velenice/Gmünd on the Czech/Austrian border and in Guben/Gubin on the border between Germany and Poland, I was able to observe how difficult it is to overcome decades of separation. In contrast, Narva/Ivangorod (Estonia/Russia) and Valka/Valga (Latvia/Estonia) showed how quickly newly erected borders can cause neighbors to become estranged.
I took photographs to capture both the things that unite and those that separate the divided towns. In addition, I interviewed residents about their identity and that of the people on the other side of the border. I also asked them about east and west and about Europe. The interviews showed that there is considerable confusion on all these issues – even directly on the borders that purportedly create identity and preserve order.
Die da drüben
Geteilte Grenzstädte in Europa,
Edition Fotohof, published by Otto Müller Verlag, April 2007
Pictures and text, 136 pages, hardcover, 116 color photographs
36,00 euros
ISBN: 978-3-7013-1128-6
