Erinnern heißt Vergessen

Since 10 years, a fully automated container terminal exists in the place of a former fishing village which, since the 12th century A.D. occupied an island in the Elbe River. The Hamburg Port has incorporated this area. Only the church has been left at its original place, now surrounded by industrial wasteland. Here, the former villagers gather for concerts and service. The documentary shows them reminiscing about the times when their village was still intact, about village life and the rigorous process of resettlement. We encounter polititians of that era but also historians, archaeologists and a neuro-scientist, who describe memory as a dynamic process requiring ‘archaeological work’ in order to be freed from its overlaying strata. An objective form of history writing or place description is not possible by means of subjective remembrance.