How does Wächter (Anatol) elucidate its Background?
Anatol Herzfeld was born in Insterburg, East Prussia (now Chernyakhovsk, Russia) on 21 January 1931. During World War II, he and his family escaped to the Rhineland, where he first was a blacksmith and then a policeman. Teaching traffic rules to school children using puppets was one of his specialties. He studied sculpture at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf with Joseph Beuys from 1964 to 1972. As an artist, he was known as Anatol. In 1982, he settled on the Museum Island of Hombroich near Düsseldorf, running a studio in a former barn.In a radio feature about Anatol, the function of the Wächter has been described as watching, defending and enlightening. Anatol is quoted: Ich war ja Verkehrspolizist. Und wenn Sie draußen sind, da sehen Sie diese Eisenkerle, das sind die Wächter. Und der Wächter hat ja was mit dem Beruf des Polizeibeamten nicht nur zu tun, sondern der Polizeibeamte ist ja ein Wächter. Der Wächter wird hingestellt, um das Geschehen zu beobachten und Gefahren abzuwehren und die Verdunkelung einer Sache zu verhüten. Es darf nicht nach einer Tat verdunkelt werden. Sondern aufgeklärt werden. Für uns alle.
I was actually a traffic policeman. And when you are outside, you see those iron guys; they're guardians. And a guardian is not just someone with something in common with the profession of police officers; the police officer is a guardian. A guardian is placed there to observe what is happening, ward off dangers and prevent something from being concealed. After a crime is committed, it must be cleared up, not covered up. For all of us.
Anatol Herzfeld Museum Island of Hombroich Kunstakademie Düsseldorf Anatol Chernyakhovsk Joseph Beuys East Prussia Insterburg Düsseldorf