Works by artist Peter Spiegel are currently on display in the district administration office under the title "Diaspora". The vernissage took place - thematically oriented - on 7 October, the second anniversary of the attack on Israel by the radical Islamic group Hamas, which marked another war in the Middle East.
"Peter Spiegel expresses his dismay with very different image formats and materials. He is concerned with the day and its consequences. Titles such as "Zerrissenes Land", "Verweht - Vergessen" and "Lagerzaun" emphasise the tragedy and point to life in the diaspora," emphasised District Administrator Frank John in his welcoming address. Among the invited and attending guests were the two former district councillors Clemens Lindemann. Clemens Lindemann and Dr Theophil Gallo, who co-initiated the remarkable exhibition. District Administrator Frank John gladly accepted the suggestion to make the rooms in the district administration available.
The artist Peter Spiegel was born in Würzburg in Lower Franconia. However, he has lived in the Saarland - for love - since 1972. He has lived and worked in Wolfersheim since 1988 with his wife Karin, who is also a respected and valued artist. The studio there offers one of the most breathtaking views over the valley towards the Kirchheimer Hof,
For Peter Spiegel, a visit to the Buchenwald concentration camp in 2021 was the trigger to approach the exhibited works. He began to search for materials that he felt were suitable for expressing the inner images and feelings that he now carried within him. He eventually chose jute, sisal, clay, ash and straw. For Peter Spiegel, these materials associated the historical events in Buchenwald: people locked away, bars and extermination. At the same time, he was able to express his inner connection to his great teacher Emil Schumacher.
"And the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, the most brutal and momentous attack on Jewish life since the Holocaust, literally burst into all these thoughts of expulsion and annihilation. Everything seemed to be slipping away and the paintings that Peter Spiegel had created and hung in his home appeared to him like a warning sign on the wall," said art historian Dr Jutta Schwan, a member of the Saarpfalz district's cultural management team, in her laudatory speech. She also provided information about the artist's motives: "Peter Spiegel - he emphasises - is not interested in the political debate that has been raging unabated ever since. Nor is it about passing judgement. He had already lamented the extinction of a rural culture with his Italian etchings - and he is now driven far more by concern and fear of the will to destroy the ancient religion of Judaism - and most centrally by concern and fear of the loss of humanity."
Afterwards, Peter Spiegel was available for personal discussions about the objects and to answer questions. He expressly thanked Dr Jutta Schwan and Beate Ruffing, member of the press and public relations team, together with the organisation team for their commitment to putting his works in the right light.
The exhibition, which can be seen until 7 November during the opening hours of the district administration, comprises just over twenty pictures in various formats in a Petersburg hanging. This method of arrangement, which creates a total work of art from many individual works of art, is named after the hanging of the paintings in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
Due to access restrictions in the building, please register with Eleonora Lupp, District Administrator's Office, Tel. (06841) 104 8266, e-mail: [email protected]. Upper school classes interested in a personal tour can also register.