How the Library was Created
The Jüdischer Friedhof (Jewish cemetery) was almost destroyed during the years of the Nazi occupation. The restoration process would last from 1988 to 1995. After Jewish headstones were moved from the nearby Piarist church in Krems to join the others in Friedhof, a competition was held to determine what to do with the now-open public space. The winners, an artist couple by the name of Clegg & Guttmann, announced an extension of their Open Public Library project.
The Open Public Library project was started in Hamburg, Germany in 1991. The artists, after being invited by the city to create an art installation, wanted to make a "portrait of a community that they thought especially might interest sociologists and students of cultural studies." (Buchholz, 2002) They would go on to install similar little free libraries around Germany and Austria in Mainz, Firmini, and Graz. An agreement couldn't be reached with the Piarist church. Instead, the artists installed the first ever public library in a Jewish cemetery. The Jüdischer Friedhof Krems library, made up of three glassed-in cases, stands in a similar shape to the headstones surrounding it. "It contains a carefully selected collection of books devoted to Jewish philosophy and the history of death. The selection is composed of German, English and Hebrew texts." (Institut für Historische Intervention, 2017) This is in keeping with the project's beginnings, when Clegg & Guttmann would use donated books only from the neighborhood of the installation to stock it. The Jüdischer Friedhof Krems library opened on December 12, 2004. Dr. Robert Streibel, in his blog dedicated to the memory of Krem's Jewish community, writes this [translated]: "Around 100 people stood in the icy temperature to attend the opening of the first public library in Krem's Jewish cemetery, many with books under their arms, to deposit into any of the three installations." |
Resources
1.) Institut für Historische Intervention. (2017) "Die offene Bibliothek auf dem jüdischen Friedhof Krems." iehi.eu. Available http://www.iehi.eu/index.php/vernetzung/129-offene-bibliothek
2.) Atlas Obscura. (2017) "The Cemetery Library." Atlasobscura.com. Available http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/judischer-friedhof-krems 3.) Streibel, Robert. (2004) "Ein Bibliothek auf dem Friedhof." Juden in Krems. Available http://judeninkrems.at/eine-bibliothek-auf-dem-friedhof/ 4.) Buchholz, Larissa. (2002) "Constructing Audiences, Defining Art: Public Art and Social Research." European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies. Available http://eipcp.net/transversal/0102/buchholzwuggenig/en 5.) Museum of Arte Útil. (2014) "Michael Clegg and Martin Guttmann: The Open Public Library." Museumarteutil.net. Available http://museumarteutil.net/projects/the-open-public-library/ 6.) Streibel, Robert. (2004) "Die Bibliothek ist eröffnet." Juden in Krems. Available http://judeninkrems.at/die-bibliothek-ist-eroeffnet/ |