Station 0: Ground Zero

Between the wars, Dessau had been a place of progressive politics, research and industry. With the onset of the Nazi period, this situation switched into terror. The expropriated Junkers factory was turned into one of the world’s largest armament factories, and the Zyklon B produced in the Dessau sugar refinery was now being used for mass murder in the extermination camp Auschwitz. With over 80% destruction during the bomb war, Dessau counted among the most severely damaged German cities. Even though the city regained in part its significance as a site for industry and research following the Second World War, the cityscape never fully recovered from the damage. Like Walter Benjamin’s angel of history who is blown backwards into the future by the storms of the catastrophes, Dessau has been gazing on the ruins of the past. Placed on the floor at the foot of the Atlas-scaffolding, the city model by the ceramic artist Jan Herzog shows the city at “zero hour” after the war.