Plantage Dachau
by Unpleasant Affairs (Caroline Kapp & Manon Haase)
supported by Cultural Department of the City of Munich
Co-Production SPIELART Theatre Festival 2023
‘Plantage Dachau’, installed by the SS in direct vicinity to the concentration camp and more widely known as the ‘Herb Garden’, was one of the Dachau concentration camp’s largest labour battalions. It formed a building block for the planned war of aggression and the autarkist fantasies harboured by the Nazi regime – a testing ground between esotericism and efficiency. 220 hectares of acreage were cultivated by up to 1,600 prisoners, mostly Jews, Sinti, and Roma. Many died during their forced labour work. Following 1945, the affair lay dormant at first, before the area was sealed under concrete and industry started settling. Automotive and screw manufacturing, a weapons store, brothels, and a pastry shop moved in. A small remainder of the installation lies fallow today; the former NS-edifices are being used for the homeless and refugees.
Performance collective Unpleasant Affairs invites the visitors to a take part in a performative inspection of the premises. How is this site that served the Nazis as a prototype for the research into compost, medicinal plants, and German herb production, therein adhering to anthroposophical principles of biodynamic agriculture, stratified today?
Link to website
Photos: ©Constanza Melendéz