Exhibition: The man as a warrior

Who needs superheroes?” asked the Austrian philosopher Lisz Hirn in her book four years ago. And he recently explained in an interview: “If I need heroes in a democracy, I actually have a problem.” Because in a democracy everyone is ultimately responsible for peaceful coexistence, everyone has to get involved, everyone has to take a stand, no matter how strenuous and grueling this may be.

Heroes, on the other hand, have “something incredibly relieving,” explained the philosopher. A viewer can sit back comfortably behind a figure like this and say to themselves that it’s already doing it; Heroes can be venerated and celebrated in order to have peace and quiet; Opponents could be fought purely virtually. This is how heroes become victims and figures of relief.

There is an exhibition with the title: “Hero Principle*. Of heroizations and heroisms” hence. It is considered the culmination of twelve years of research at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, funded since 2012 by the German Research Foundation, on behalf of the Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr. And the question arises, in this strange formation: Do we need real heroes again in a “war-ready” (Pistorius) era?

The exhibition location is not without its own: It is called the Military History Museum and is housed on the former Berlin-Gatow airfield. Initially used as a glider airfield in the 1920s, the Nazis expanded the area into a military airfield in the mid-1930s, and it was personally inaugurated by Hitler on November 1, 1935. Later the dictator was regularly flown from there to Berchtesgaden.

From April to June 1945, the Red Army occupied the airfield, then the British Royal Air Force. In June 1994, flight operations were stopped and the Bundeswehr took over the site; The Military History Museum has been set up there since 1995, run by the Federal Ministry of Defense.

A selection from the weapons manufacturers’ arsenal of destruction is lined up on the tarmac: fighter planes, fighter-bombers, nuclear weapons carriers, anti-aircraft machines. In total more than 200 planes, helicopters and rockets. Is such an exhibition more intimidating or inspiring? Many fathers walk around the grounds with their sons…

The special exhibition “Principle Hero*” is housed in a listed aircraft hangar until November. Various chapters and installations, airily arranged in the large hall, labyrinthine, that’s what the exhibition organizers call their concept.

It is based on various “building blocks” from Freiburg scientists, whose theses are displayed on plaques. A heroic figure always needs one Audienceotherwise it would not be known, is the first thesis. These audiences, these groups and communities are emotional and affective, excluding those who do not belong or should not belong to them.

Communication (or propaganda) takes place via the Medializationi.e. the passing on of a story or memory. “For heroes to become heroes, they have to be reported on.” Heroization is polarizationit creates communities and divides the world into supporters and opponents, there is no in-between.

Heroization is always there Fighting and border crossings tied together. Every action is declared a fight. Draw a special hero or heroine Agency out of. They act “more intensively, faster, more effectively and, above all, more effectively and more meaningfully”; “What breaks others: they can endure it.”

Then heroes or heroines can role models that could contribute to self-discovery and education as a leitmotif. And finally the last building block: Masculinity. The hero myth has been “mainly associated with men” since ancient times. The man as a warrior.

Names and case studies are discussed in the exhibition. Greta Thunberg or Edward Snowden, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg or Li Wenliang, the Chinese doctor who was one of the first to warn about the coronavirus and later died from it. Chapters have headings such as “Heroes and Contradictions – Overthrowing Colonial Monuments”, “Collective Heroism – Labor Heroes”, and “Economic Warriors – Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg”.

It is a thought exhibition. “Arrangements, constellations of objects and reproductions,” explain the curators, “not illustrative interpretation, but texts that offer a playful depth and handling of ideas.”

The accompanying book talks about fallen and overthrown heroes, about identification figures and objects of hate, about moral victors and tragic heroes, about deputies and martyrs, about national heroes and war veterans. “Heroic stories hide a lot of things,” says one of the essays. And: “What does it say about us and what do we do when we produce, have or need heroes?”

“Peace education succeeds by questioning images of heroes,” said journalist Heribert Prantl in a recent interview. At the beginning of the year he published a book entitled: “Winning Peace. Unlearn violence.”

By the way: The philosopher Lisz Hirn will be with her book “Who needs superheroes?” not mentioned in the extensive bibliography of the Freiburg scientists.

«Hero principle*. “Of heroizations and heroisms”, Berlin-Gatow airfield, until November 3rd, Tuesday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., free entry; Catalog of the same name (German/English), Wallstein, 264 pages, hardcover, €28.
Reading tips:
Lisz Hirn: Who needs superheroes? What it really takes to save our world. Molden-Verlag, 160 pages, hardcover, €22;
Heribert Prantl: Winning peace. Unlearn violence. Heyne, 240 p., hardcover, €20.

Do we need real heroes again in a “war-hardened” (Pistorius) era?

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