Victoria Tomaschko photographed in the northern part of Rostock, in prefabricated housing estates built in the 1960s and 1970s, which now form a kind of outer city surrounding the renovated city center. In August 1992, right-wing extremists attacked the central reception center for asylum seekers in the so-called "Sunflower House" in Lichtenhagen. Around 3,000 onlookers applauded the violent riots and obstructed police and fire services, which eventually withdrew at the height of the escalation. Political failure before, during, and after the attacks shaped and defined the events. The misjudgment, denial, and trivialization of the murders committed by the Zwickau terrorist cell are a tragic example and current evidence of institutional blindness to right-wing violence.
In her photo series, Victoria Tomaschko focuses on present-day life in northern Rostock and on absent or unconscious sites of memory—a blind spot in socio-political narratives and historical awareness. What can be learned from these gaps in memory? What remains unseen yet present, what realities are repressed and thus all the more pervasive? And how do such events shape one’s own biography, especially for someone like Tomaschko, who was born and raised in Rostock? (Text: Sabine Winkler)