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The "European Street
of Peace - Street of Sculpture in Europe" takes up the idea
of the Jewish artist Otto Freundlich (1878 - 1943), who was murdered
in the Third Reich.
Already during the 1930s he had dreamed
about two -as he called them - people uniting streets of sculpture:
"une voie de la fraternité humaine" (a path ot
human brotherhood) from North to South, and "une voie de la solidarité humaine en souvenir de
la libération", (a path of human solidarity and
remembrance of liberation) from the Norman Coast via Paris to Moscow.
"The
"Street of Sculptures St. Wendel" (Saarland/ Germany) is
the seed of Otto Freundlich's West-East street. With initiative
of sculptor Leo Kornbrust from the Saarland, 53 sculptures by artists
from 12 countries have been installed here since 1971. By 1978 Leo
Kornbrust expanded his concept. At the same time he encoutered Otto
Freundlich's ideas.
Thus the project in St. Wendel became the
first section of the "Street of Peace".
In 2004
the "Otto Freundlich Society" was founded (under the
leadership of Leo Kornbrust) to realize Freundlich's "steet" from the
Norman Coast to Moscow, to accomplish and integrate more initiatives
and
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sculptors with their works. The sculptures are intended to form
a string of pearls across Europe as a symbol of peace.
Extentions
from 1999 to 2006 are the "Sculpture Path Salzgitter-Bad"
in Lower Saxony/Germany and "Stones at the border" near
Merzig/Germany. Newly also the sculpture park owned by the artist couple Kubach-Wilmsen
in Ebernburg/Germany and the sculpture "Welle des Lebens"
(Wave of Live) at the European Academy of Otzenhausen/Saarland are
part of the European Street of Peace.
Partners in France,
Luxemburg, Belgium, Poland, Austria and Tchech Republic have joined.
The "iron curtain" that separated West from East and
divided Europe is gone.
In spite of all terrible war crimes,
committed during the last centuries, terror and war will still mark
our world. It is therefore as urgent as ever to reflect on Otto
Freundlich's idea. All projects, where Palestinian artists work
with Israelis, Germans with Poles, Russians, French, Belgians and
Luxemburgers, set a signal and give shape to their wishes for peace
and a common Europe.
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