So today Clover my dog and I dropped in for a few minutes to see if we could catch a photo or two of the Obama’s as they toured the races…we were lucky enough to get pretty close to the red carpet as they had a rather young security detail.

I found a parking spot on the busy main street, paid my bills and still I couldn’t shake the image of these wandering people. I decided then…my day can wait. I have to go and see what this is all about.

Upon my arrival to the Medieval market square, already bustling with shoppers at the weekly market, I saw them. Lined up along the stairs of the town fountain, with the statue of Madonna looking down upon them…there were the suitcases. I now can see what is written on the sides…names. With my heart in my throat and tears rolling uncontrollably down my cheeks, I attempt to capture the image.

Many elderly, walker supported people wander from case to case reading the names taped to the sides. Children tug upon their mothers hands and ask what does this mean. Others gather and speak softly together…but again for another year NO One Forgets…no one ever will.

I have always been awed by this amazing picturesque village I am blessed to call home for a small period of my life, but today I am proud of them. With great evil there is always great good, this horrific thing did happen here in this village, but still many other Ladenburgers risked their lives to provide what aide they could to the Jewish residents after everything was taken away from them so tragically.

I took some time today and translated the text that was being handed out so you too can know a bit of the history.

“22 october 2010 The town of Ladenburg Remembers
their deported and murdered Jewish fellow citizens

were on 22 october 1940 in a secretly planned a surprise action of the two Nazis Gauleiter Josef Wagner and Rober Bürcke,l 6504 Jewish men, women and children from Saarland Baden, the Palatinate and in the south of France were deported to concentration camps. On the morning of the 22nd October 1940 they were forced to leave their homes with few belongings gather at central locations in their home communities. from there they were taken by the Gestapo and the local police force to police trucks to the main train stations Mannheim, Heidelberg and Karlsruhe.

Under inhumane conditions they were four days and three nights kept in special trains and transported to the internment, at the foot of the Pyrenees, Gurs. The Spanish civil war refugees had set up camp was for the lodging of the deported Jews southwestern and were totally unprepared. They had to live under unimaginable conditions.

After just a few weeks many died from cold-and inadequate nutrition, about 1,000 of the older prisoners. The horrific conditions of camp life presented in Gurs but was only one step in the ordeal of Jewish citizens on the way to the death camps of the east from 1942 till 1944. Only a few managed to escape from the camp or were rescued by international aid organizations.

Ladenburg had 27 men, women and children of the Jewish faith. 22 October 1940 during the Feast of Tabernacles they were deported from their home town. With just a suitcase in which they were allowed to take on instruction by the gestapo only what was necessary, they were rounded up on the marketplace early morning. Even thought this action was a secret one many non Jewish residents of Ladenburg were there to watch as the Jewish citizens of their town were removed to the Mannheim Central Station from where they had to compete to ride to the concentration camp at Gurs

Only selma Hirsch managed to escape from the camp in the Rhine and switzerland Berta Johanna Hirsch died in camp Gurs. Only the seven children, Parents and grandparents were murdered in death camps Majdanek and Auschwitz. ”

I must thank also my friends and neighbors for coming out in support. A big thank you goes to the Rathaus (town hall) of course, Frau Stahl who organized the night and Mayor Ziegler for his many kind words. Obsthof Schuhmann of Ladenburg not only personally marketed my exhibition by handing out posters and postcards but also arrived as a family with a HUGE beautiful basket of their amazing fruit for all visitors on the night to enjoy.

Well, enough of me…here is the exhibition through is eyes.

I had a nice visit with Mannheimer Morgan journalist, Hans-Jürgen Emmerich a few days before our Vernissage (opening) of the Ladenburg exhibition.
Here is a translation from the interview above:

When and how did you get into photography?

In 2003, While working as a museum designer for the US Army in Würzburg, my bosses saw some of my  and they gave me an amazing opportunity.  For 2 weeks I was a reportage
Photographer in France documenting 1st Infantry Division soldiers as they performed Memorial day ceremonies around France.

Since when you live in Europe, since when in Ladenburg?

I have been lucky enough to live in Germany and Belgium on and off since 1991.   I have lived in Ladenburg for the past 4 years.  That is why I decided to give this exhibition now with all the local Military leaving we have no idea if we will be here next year.  I did not want to miss the chance to say Thank you to Ladenburg.

Which camera do you prefere?

I can’t really say I have a favorite camera. Each camera teaches me something new, each camera shows me a different way of seeing.  If I have to pick I would say I love my Rolleiflex 2,8 GX….but I love working with my Ansco Large Format Studio Camera as working with a camera that large, it is like dance.  We must be in harmony to produce a great image.  I guess that is with all cameras.

How often do you use the iPhone to take pictures?

EVERYDAY!! I love my iPhone….it is wonderfully freeing to not have to carry heavy gear.

Which images you selected for your exhibition at Ladenburg?

A German friend of mine used the word AUGENBLICK to describe the images I chose for this exhibition.  Moments  where the light  was magical, a feeling of fantasy or a touch of the fairy tale that is present in the daily life  here in Ladenburg.  At least in my American Perspective.  Presently I have 30 images chosen, that can always change in the next two weeks as I never stop working, 15 of them are hand printed using the historic technique called Albumen printing.  This process was invented in 1850′s, where you coat paper with a mixture of egg whites and salt and then later sensitize the paper with Silver Nitrate.  The prints are then produced using UV light or the sun in a contact print frame.  The result is a rich print with an amazing finish.

Is there a favorite motif in Ladenburg?

There is so much to love about Ladenburg that picking one motif is difficult, but if I must pick, for me it is the Landscape that captivates and inspires me.  The ever changing light and vast sky, each day pulls me out of my studio and into the streets and fields.

The exhibition will hang in the Ladenburg Rathaus from 15 October until 29 November.  The Vernissage or Opening is 15 October at 19:00.  The idea behind this exhibition is to say THANK YOU to all the wonderful people of Ladenburg for making me feel at home these past 4 years.

Sabine Prothmann, from the Ladenburg Blog said:

Everyone can snap photos, like a machine, but not everyone can observe “, with this quotation mayors Ziegler the photo exhibition of Laura Boston Thek, open by Friedrich Duerrenmatt: „Ladenburg – Eine Amerikanische Perspektive “.

50 visitors came, in order to admire along the gallery in the 1st upper floor of the Ladenburger of city hall with 40 photographs by the American. One hears enthusiastic comments again and again: „You really have a great eye “, „Do you really see these colors “, „Completely Fantastic “…

A new view of Ladenburg

The American Laura Boston Thek shows the Ladenburger visitors a new view of their city. It carries the viewer forward on through a migration and a journey by roads and house lines, between apple trees and asparagus fields the view of details, emphasizes.

In black-and-white it shows us details of the city, from statues, coat of arms, house fronts. Poetically it inserts the color particularly with landscape photographs, the pictures shines unreal as into „Fruit OF their labors “, where she has photographed humans with the asparagus harvest or also in „Revealing landscape “, as the material rises like a veil over the landscape.

A photography of the City Gate, she calls „Laden-henge, and the admission of a Madonna statue in the market square „Under the watchful Eye “.

Laura Boston Thek leaves the reality, but does not make it unreal

„I say “, thus Ziegler (Mayor) in his greetings thank you for this view. „Laura Boston Thek leaves the reality, but does not make it unreal, we gets the view sharpened “.

Since four years the artist has lived in Ladenburg, with her husband, who works for the US-Army. Perhaps they would have soon return to the US, a loss for Ladenburg, stresses the mayor.

Daily the photographer with their dog and many cameras investigates the roads and places and the environment of the city.

These wanders made the artist in Ladenburg popular and well-known, with their joyfulness and cordialness have helped her developed a relationship with many people and she identifies herself with our city “, tells Ziegler.

„In my heart I am a Ladenburgerin “, says Boston Thek only with this loving and observing eye could these marvelous photographs develop.

The heart plays a crucial role

With her photography the heart a crucial role, her observations and impressions plays created by her heart translates directly on the paper was brought, describes the mayor the work process by the photographer.

It is one „ingenious mixture of the ability, light, landscape, humans, to catch details and a doings of humans “in the photographs says Mayor Ziegler. The viewer experiences in such a way city, culture and humans from an American perspective – „cultures come so to each other “.

Boston Thek shows us pictures, which we do not see with our own eyes after living in Ladenburg so long, her candid photographs sharpens our view for the beauty and detail. “For it we thank you very much”, says Mayor Ziegler.

On her website Laura Boston Thek writes: “DAILY I walk, compelled to capture with my camera, the ever changing beauty surrounding me. Taking photos is a path to healing my wandering soul.”

The exhibition can be visited still by 29 November 2010 in the 1st upper floor of the city hall during the opening times: On Mondays to on Wednesdays from 9:00 to 12:30 clock and from 14:00 to 17:00 clock and Thursday of 9:00 to 12:00 clock and 14:00 to 18:00 clock.
Ladenburg Blog