Silent witnesses – 135 silent witnesses of the flood disaster in the Ahrtal/ Germany

On 16 February 2024, the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament in Mainz held a further hearing of evidence from 9 a.m. onwards by the “Flood Disaster” committee of enquiry into allegations of significant deficiencies in disaster control during the flood of the century in the Ahr valley.

An hour earlier, at 8.00 a.m., survivors from the Ahr valley had already gathered in front of the state parliament for a silent vigil, accompanied by artist Dennis Josef Meseg and his new installation “Silent Witnesses”.

What these people must have suffered when the floods hit! Having to watch helplessly as everything was washed away, all their belongings. The fear of death from the constantly rising, raging floodwaters. The panicked search for relatives. Screams in the darkness. And their silence.

135 people lost their lives in the Ahr Valley on 14 and 15 July 2020. Some of them might have been saved if the emergency services had acted quickly and, above all, effectively. But apparently they didn’t, even though there were early warnings.

Of course, expert opinions had to be obtained and verifiable facts carefully scrutinised. After all, no one should be falsely accused. But no one should get away unpunished if they could be proven to have made mistakes that led to the loss of human life.

Destroyed livelihoods could be rebuilt. The authorities had also promised quick and unbureaucratic help. As always. As always, numerous politicians also travelled to the disaster area for a photo opportunity. Some were concerned, others put on affected expressions, one laughed.

And they all left again quickly. Without waiting for the question of who was responsible for so many people dying. To this day, this issue has been pushed back and forth, talked down and even blamed on fate as the only culprit with the false claim that the flood was unforeseeable.

They have come to Mainz, the survivors from the Ahr valley, for a final silent vigil. The installation artist Dennis Josef Meseg was at their side and symbolically brought along all those who can no longer speak.

135 white-wrapped mannequins, including a teenager and three children. People big and small who might still be with us if the responsible authorities had acted quickly and correctly.

So they were once again with their relatives, the innocent victims of the flood disaster, to say to the living in the state parliament: “We wish we were still here!”

📝 Text Ricarda Reich

About the background:

At the end of January, Inka Orth contacted me via my website. She briefly described her very tragic fate to me. She and her husband Ralph Orth lost their 22-year-old daughter Johanna Orth in the flood disaster in the Ahr valley in 2021.

Mrs Orth asked me if I could support her planned vigil in Mainz on 16 February 2024 with some of my figures. After brief consideration, it was clear that I couldn’t use any figures from the existing installation, which was already heavily laden with other messages. Without further ado, I developed a new installation with the team within a few days that would get under your skin even more than all the previous installations with figures wrapped in fluttering tape.

It quickly became clear that the installation would consist of 135 different mannequins wrapped tightly in white flutter tape to convey their silent message. Among them were two children and a teenager.

This time I chose “Silent witnesses – 135 silent witnesses of the flood disaster from the Ahr valley” as the meaningful title for the installation.

A few hours later, the first helpers were already in the studio to once again invest valuable hours of their lives in my installation. My gratitude to the entire team can hardly be expressed with the hourly wage paid.

One week and again at peak times, 20 helping hands later, the last figure was completed one day before the vigil.

Another journey into an enraptured and emotional world of human abysses could begin. And it will be a long journey.

For the first time, my figures will not stand in public as a representative mass, but in this installation each figure will stand for exactly one death victim from the Ahr Valley in 2021.