A piece of Amber
What stones know

• Text zum Nachlesen

  The Amber about Itself

  I am an amber. And if you knew what I have seen... You would have to stay for millions of years to hear it all. But that‘s too long. So, I‘ll limit myself to the last century, which is closest to you, and I must also say: It was quite a stirring time.

  I came into the possession of a human rather late, and it happened right on the „Amber Coast“ – we were scattered far and wide, and she picked me up. And then, on January 30, 1945, as she desperately tried to secure places on the „Wilhelm Gustloff“ for herself and her family, there I was, solely due to a human custom, in her handbag. And that‘s why I stayed with her when her suitcase vanished amidst the chaos, and I was still with her, safely by her side, when the ship sank – fortunately, we lingered still, for the time being, at the harbor, waiting for the next ship.

  And so, I remained with her thereafter. The war ended, she had another child, a son, who grew up and married. When she died, I passed into the possession of her daughter-in-law – so today, I am with her. She keeps me in a jewelry box, like a gem, and sometimes I wonder there, what would have happened if I hadn‘t turned into stone back then. If I had remained the drop of tree resin that I was. Then I would never have experienced this feeling of being charged with meaning and memory – simply because I was with her.

  Zusatzinfos

  The original owner of this amber fled East Prussia in 1945 from the Red Army. Along with her brother and two children, they traveled from Gotenhafen across the Baltic Sea towards the west. If they had obtained places on the „Wilhelm Gustloff“, which was torpedoed and sunk by a Soviet submarine on the same day, they would likely have perished.

  A Piece of Clay Slate with Iron Spar and Quartz to the Amber

  am a piece of clay slate with iron spar and quartz. At least from Earth‘s history, I could tell far more than you... I agree with you though, it was much quieter before humans came along – all the truly complex events, they only started with humans.

  I came through Eisernhardt into the modern world, where I was excavated from the ground along with many others, amidst groans and creaks. However, the mine is closed since 1957.

  The iron spar in me was in demand back then. And they made a lot of use of it – if you look around, iron is in all sorts of things. But they left my iron in me – because I was used for „representational purposes“. I served as a sample stone for all the other stones of my kind in theoretical lessons in mineralogy at the Bergschule Siegen. There were miners, senior miners, foremen, mine surveyors (underground surveying engineers), but that school no longer exists.

  That might not sound as remarkable as your ship story. But let me tell you, I‘ve experienced all sorts of incidents, mishaps, accidents, and other occurrences. I‘ve been part of so many people‘s everyday life and have witnessed their careers, with all their successes and quarrels and affairs... Countless episodes, forgotten by everyone. All sedimented in time – like stones in the earth.

  Do you happen to have stones at home that remind you of something?
  Because these stones were with you? In a moment you can‘t forget?