Monuments of My Personal History, 2016

The Legend of Jan van Hunks describes how the Devil dressed up as a man and challenged Jan van Hunks to a smoking competition. Jan van Hunks accepted and, after smoking for a day, died – leaving a huge smoke cloud behind him, which can still be seen above Devil’s Peak in Cape Town.

Years later, in 1971, during the city’s celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the Republic, three Mercure airplanes crashed in the middle of an air spectacle, causing an explosion and a huge smoke cloud.
Over several months people picked up the debris that was spread all over Devil’s Peak.

In 1940, on a high plain on the outskirts of Berlin, the Nazi Regime inaugurated the prototype for the defense facility, related to the project Germania, which professed to be the World Capital City.
During the Second World War, lots of airplanes flew over Berlin and bombed its buildings. After the war, the city was reduced to smoke clouds and debris.

As the War finished, the Nazi prototype for the defense facility was destroyed and thousands of cubic meters of debris from the destroyed Berlin were placed over it, creating one of the highest mountains in the city:
Teufelsberg. The Devil’s Mountain.

I used to go to Drachenberg when I was living in that part of Berlin. I always walked the same way, I used to pick up debris from the destroyed Berlin buildings, and I used to sit down to observe people flying kites. There is a lot of wind there, normally.

Once, I also flew a kite there. It was blue. From Drachenberg you can see Teufelsberg, the Devil’s Mountain.
I don’t have photos from this time of my life, just some memories and debris.