The first week of May 2023, the Traveling Tombstone, Tevat Paul, visited Amsterdam and The Hague, Netherlands. It was a wonderful short excursion during which the first sculpture of the series posed in a few places, and for a good reason: preparations for an exhibition later this year.
A Traveling Tombstone “Tevat Paul“ in Amsterdam. Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Engraved: “RESPONSIBLE IRRESPONSIBILITY – Paul A. Levine”.
A few shots also expose a golden scar on one of six sculpture’s diabas-facets created as result of its unfortunate fall while travelling in the US in April 2022.
A Traveling Tombstone “Tevat Paul“ visits Amsterdam, Netherlands. Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt.
A Traveling Tombstone “Tevat Paul“ visits The Haague, Netherlands. Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt.
…And most importantly, we are continuing and meeting new and old friends. I sincerely thank all those who have provided and are providing all kinds of support.
A Traveling Tombstone “Tevat Paul“ visits Amsterdam, Netherlands. Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt.
Invite our Traveling Exhibition @CONTACT 📩 to your institution and
“If your heart is broken, make art with the pieces.” – Shane Koyczan Although in our case we had to collect pieces not of the heart, but of sculpture, the muse was most supportive this time as well. As you may remember, Tevat Paul performed spectacularly in its journey across the North American continent in…
“PILPAUL” — the sculpture No. 3 of the series is looking for support. This fundraiser aims to continue our project “A Traveling Tombstone” with the third sculpture in this series, the naturally formed hexagonal basalt disk that exposes a wheel within a wheel which are inseparable parts of the same stone piece. I would really…
A Traveling Tombstone – the sculpture “BEYAHAD LO NI-PAUL” in memory of Paul A. Levine — a project in collaboration with sculptor Robert Schmidt-Matt and Elena Medvedev, the initiative “Paul A. Levine Library”…
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After splitting one of its “shoulders”, Tevat Paul continued traveling to NYC, Montreal and back to Berlin–partly broken, nevertheless successful.
At home, Tevat Paul had to spend several days at the sculptor’s atelier in Berlin Kreuzberg–the place of its creation–for a very special treatment, Kintsugi, thoughtfully prepared to both heal and refine its fracture. With the Kintsugi technique, gold is used to attach the broken parts by creating a gold connection that highlights the blemish.
A Traveling Tombstone “Tevat Paul“ jeweled with a golden scar, Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt.
It was my cousin Michelle, a social worker in Lynn, Massachusetts, who introduced me to the Kintsugi method, and I am very grateful to her for this truly wonderful idea for the restoration of Tevat Paul. Michelle’s idea of using the traditional Japanese art of pottery restoration, combined with talent, care and love, turned in the sculptor’s hands into a golden scar on the stone.
Since then, our hexahedral “traveling hero”, Tevat Paul, is whole again, jeweled with a golden scar.
A Traveling Tombstone “Tevat Paul“ jeweled with a golden scar, Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt.
Invite our Traveling Exhibition @CONTACT 📩 to your institution and
The first week of May 2023, the Traveling Tombstone, Tevat Paul, visited Amsterdam and The Hague, Netherlands. It was a wonderful short excursion during which the first sculpture of the series posed in a few places, and for a good reason: preparations for an exhibition later this year. A few shots also expose a golden…
A Traveling Tombstone – the sculpture “Tevat Paul” in memory of Paul A. Levine — is a project in collaboration with sculptor Robert Schmidt-Matt and the initiative “Paul A. Levine Library”….
— the sculpture No. 2 in the series A Traveling Tombstone
“BEYAHAD LO NI-PAUL“; series: “A Traveling Tombstone”; Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Material: Jerusalem Limestone, 23 x 23 x 23 cm. Engraved: “RESPONSIBLE IRRESPONSIBILITY Paul A. Levine”.
On 28. October 2022, there will be the third anniversary of the death of outstanding historian Paul A. Levine. Therefore, I am especially grateful to present the next stone in the series A Traveling Tombstone dedicated to him.
“BEYAHAD LO NI-PAUL“; series: “A Traveling Tombstone”; Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Material: Jerusalem Limestone, 23 x 23 x 23 cm. Engraved: “RESPONSIBLE IRRESPONSIBILITY Paul A. Levine”.
Entering History, Paul A. Levine—historian, author, and teacher—left behind outstanding work and his unique archive with several unfinished writings, enriching lectures, and other important materials, as well as an epitaph for his headstone: “Responsible Irresponsibility”. Because of Levine’s headstone-less burial place, the project A Traveling Tombstone was started to commemorate his legacy. (Read more about the project A Traveling Tombstone – the idea.)
The first sculpture in the series, Tevat Paul, is followed now by the next one, named “BEYAHAD LO NI-PAUL” (Together we will not fall). The new sculpture is a true masterpiece, created by the sculptor Robert Schmidt-Matt in his quiet Innenhof-Dachboden studio, in Berlin-Kreuzberg. The presented piece of art is conceived and created with the remarkably unique Jerusalem stone. The historian’s epitaph and his name—RESPONSIBLE IRRESPONSIBILITY Paul A. Levine1956-2019—are carved into the sculpture’s stone.
Overwhelmed with feelings of joy and sadness, I express my heartfelt gratitude to all the participants, to everyone who supported me and this project with their ideas, words, and deeds.
A few more words about the name BEYAHAD LO NI-PAUL: we owe it to Paz Einat, a molecular biologist and chess problem author from Israel. BEYAHAD LO NI-PAUL (ביחד לא ניפול) means in Hebrew “together we will not fall”, with a word-play on Paul’s name: BEYAHAD LO NI-PAUL instead of LO NIPOL: the Hebrew word (ni)POL is spelled the same as the name Paul. “There are various slogans around this one, meaning: together we stand”, suggests Paz Einat; “maybe the one related to Masada is the closest. Although it doesn’t have the word ‘together’-שנית מצדה לא תיפול – the exact meaning is: Masada will not fall a second time. And it broadly refers to the state of Israel – it will not fall again”.
“BEYAHAD LO NI-PAUL“; series: “A Traveling Tombstone”; Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Material: Jerusalem Limestone, 23 x 23 x 23 cm. Engraved: “RESPONSIBLE IRRESPONSIBILITY Paul A. Levine”.“BEYAHAD LO NI-PAUL“; series: “A Traveling Tombstone”; Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Material: Jerusalem Limestone, 23 x 23 x 23 cm. Perspective: From Above
“BEYAHAD LO NI-PAUL“; series: “A Traveling Tombstone”; Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Material: Jerusalem Limestone, 23 x 23 x 23 cm
“BEYAHAD LO NI-PAUL“; series: “A Traveling Tombstone”; Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Material: Jerusalem Limestone, 23 x 23 x 23 cm
Invite our traveling exhibition 📩 @CONTACT to your institution and
— the sculpture No. 1 in the series A Traveling Tombstone
“Tevat Paul“; Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Material: Diabas, 10 x 10 x 12 cm. Engraved: “Responsible irresponsibility – Paul A. Levine”. Photo credits: Ronen Khazin.
The sculpture bears the Hebrew name Tevat Paul (תיבת פול – Ark Paul) and is a memorial stone that can be placed anywhere, consisting of two inseparable parts.
“Tevat Paul“; Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Material: Diabas, 10 x 10 x 12 cm. Engraved: “Responsible irresponsibility – Paul A. Levine”. Photo credits: Ronen Khazin.
In this way, the Jewish culture of remembrance is linked, which enables a separation of location-specificity: indeed, if a homeland can travel as a concept, then a tombstone can, under certain circumstances, also travel.
In Spring 2022, the traveling tombstone Tevat Paul was on its way traveling; and it had an interesting route to explore and people to meet.
A Traveling Tombstone Tevat Paul on board. March, 2022.
Our goal is to present the Traveling Tombstone series as a piece of art and a concept in different places, to visit our partners, to find new friends and further support.
Invite our Traveling Exhibition @CONTACT 📩 to your institution and
Commemorating Historian Levine, “A Traveling Tombstone” sculptures series is a project in collaboration with sculptor Robert Schmidt-Matt and the initiative “Paul A. Levine Library”…
A Traveling Tombstone – the sculpture series in memory of Paul A. Levine — a project in collaboration with sculptor Robert Schmidt-Matt and the initiative “Paul A. Levine Library”…
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Visiting Professor Frank Chalk, Department of History Concordia University, Montreal QC, Canada
“…there´s a not inconsiderable Canadian connection in both my personal and professional life…” — Paul A. Levine, Summer 2018.
After special trip to New York – Levine‘s city of birth – Tevat Paul moved further, hexagonally dissecting the expanses of the “heavenly ocean” on the small Embraer aircraft, direction Montreal, to meet Professor Frank Chalk at Concordia University.
Professor of History and Research Director at the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, Concordia University, Prof. Dr. Frank Chalk was Paul Levine’s mentor and colleague for several decades. On the tenth floor of the Library Building, seated in his History Department office, overlooking Montreal Downtown West from a bird’s eye view, Professor Chalk shared his memories of meetings with Paul Levine.
A Traveling Tombstone “Tevat Paul“ meets Prof. Dr. Frank Chalk, Department of History Concordia University, Montreal QC, Canada. Series: “Zweisam”; Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Material: Diabas, 10 x 10 x 12 cm. Engraved: “RESPONSIBLE IRRESPONSIBILITY – Paul A. Levine”.
“Over the years, we have met and exchanged ideas several times starting with my visit to Uppsala University in the late 1990s to participate in a teacher training program, followed by discussions during a training program for mid-level foreign affairs officials organized by the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation in Poland in 2012, and, most recently, at the Armenian Government conference on genocide prevention in Yerevan in April 2016…”.
“Dr. Levine is one of those rare research scholars who thinks deeply and seriously about what we teach and how we teach it. In publication after publication and talk after talk, he probes what changes happen in the classroom when we teach about the Shoah in different nations and cultural contexts, how the recent emphasis on the memory of the Holocaust affects the facts we emphasize or ignore, and what lessons the Holocaust might teach us that would inform our responses to identity politics….” – Chalk, Frank, 2016.
A Traveling Tombstone “Tevat Paul“ visited Prof. Dr. Frank Chalk, Department of History Concordia University, Montreal QC, Canada. Series: “Zweisam”; Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Material: Diabas, 10 x 10 x 12 cm. Engraved: “RESPONSIBLE IRRESPONSIBILITY – Paul A. Levine”.
Professor Chalk asked detailed questions about both the Tevat Paul project and the Initiative itself, showing high interest and great participation, expressing the warmest wishes for success.
Thanks for the cookies, Professor Chalk, and for the heartfelt welcome.
With the beginning of summer 2022, the very first journey of the Traveling Tombstone Tevat Paul was nearing its successful conclusion. The way forward takes us back home, to Berlin. Just as wars finally end with negotiations, so travels end with the way home. And the first journey that has come to an end clears the way for the next one… Maybe Sweden or Israel? England, Hungary? – Who knows…
Do you too feel connected to Professor Paul A. Levine and his work, and would you like to meet Tevat Paul, a Traveling Tombstone dedicated to the star-historian as well?
Drop me a note 📩 @CONTACT and let us schedule a meeting.
“Today, the need for effectively taught and historically accurate Holocaust education is greater than ever. This is true for many reasons central to our lives, and for the future of our children. Though this epochal tragedy occurred in Europe, it is impossible to understand our globalized world today without understanding the basics of Holocaust history…
W E B I N A R – 7.12.2020 ✿ IN MEMORY OF PAUL A. LEVINE Forward and Don’t Forget: Writing & Teaching About The Holocaust Today THE WEBINAR IS organized by: Elena Medvedev, INITIATOR, The Initiative Paul A. Levine Library.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE – WEBINAR 2020 Forward and Don’t Forget: Writing & Teaching About The Holocaust Today ✿ IN MEMORY OF PAUL A. LEVINE December, 7, 2020, 17:00 CET (11 AM EST)Zoom-based DOWNLOAD POSTER Please plan on joining us online for an especially interesting talk. This will be the first webinar program organized by The Initiative.…
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In 1956, the second son of four children, Paul A. Levine was born in New York City; he later admitted some “…dim memories from painfully musty Brighton Beach/Brooklyn apartments… …thinking and feeling Grandpa Levine, who took care of me and always brought fresh borscht to NJ.” (Levine, 2019.)
A Traveling Tombstone “Tevat Paul“ in New York; series: “Zweisam”; Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Material: Diabas, 10 x 10 x 12 cm. Engraved: “Responsible irresponsibility – Paul A. Levine”. 2022.
It was 1964 or early 1965, in Emerson NJ, when two Jewish-American boys – Paul and Ric – on their daily walk to school and back walked along the Main Street, passed by the Armenian nursing home every day. Nearby, 500 meters east, on Elmwood Drive, was the home of their family. Paul was then a seven-year-old child and did not understand that he was observing Armenians who survived the genocide [1].
Emerson Elementary School, Emerson NJ“Main [St] led into Linwood and our school was on our left as we walked up Main [St]“Emerson NJ, 2022.Tevat Paul – A Traveling Tombstone in Emerson NJ. “… I walked to Linwood School from our small house about 500 meters from the Nursing Home. Every day we passed what we called, “The Armenian Old People´s Home”. That was all I knew about it. …What I remember most are the hands of some of the old people sitting in the garden. I remember looking hard at their gloves, and often seeing clearly that there were fingers missing. To a young boy, they should have been there. But they were not, and this I can´t forget.” — Levine, 2019.
In 2019, Levine was the narrator of the film “The American Samaritans”, the film that reports about him traveling in the US, working for the project about the Armenian Genocide. [2]
Tevat Paul in Brooklyn NYTevat Paul in Brooklyn NYTevat Paul in New York CityA Traveling Tombstone Tevat Paul in New YorkIn Rutgers UniversityJewish Student CenterTevat Paul visits Rutgers University on a rainy dayTevat Paul visiting Rutgers university, New Brunswick, NJ.
“I first met Omer Bartov in 1992, at Rutgers University Department of History. You were, I discovered on my arrival to New Jersey, the “Raoul Wallenberg Professor of Human Rights, and I was…of all things, a junior fellow of the same programme. I’ll never forget our first conversation at a coffee shop in New Brunswick…” [3]
[3] Levine, P. A., 7th Annual Hugo Valentin Lecturer, Introduction of Prof. Omer Bartov, 10 March 2009.
"1994- 1996: Rutgers University, Department of History, adjunct lecturer. Taught courses in history of the Holocaust, history methods and modern European history. 1994- 1996: Rutgers University, Director, The Raoul Wallenberg Professorship in Human Rights. Responsibilities included fundraising, development of Holocaust educational outreach programs for teachers, organizing public lectures and academic conferences, etc. 1992- 1993: Rutgers University, Department of History-- Visiting Lecturer & Fellow, The Raoul Wallenberg Professorship in Human Rights" – Levine's Academic Employment and Positions. From CV, March, 2019.
"...I have known Dr. Levine's work since ... when he held the Raoul Wallenberg Professorship in Human Rights at Rutgers University."– Frank Chalk, 2016.
“Dr. Levine is well known and highly respected by scholars studying the Shoah and the history of genocide for his pioneering scientific research on Raoul Wallenberg’s role in Hungary; for his great achievement in co-authoring the most widely circulated and extensively translated popular history of the Holocaust, Tell Ye Your Children; and for his effective and energetic role as a public intellectual confronting the themes of rescue and by-standing during the Holocaust….” – Chalk, Frank, 2016.
On my way to the Montreal Institute for Genocide & Human Rights Studies, Concordia University, to meet Professor Frank Chalk, I’ll talk to you soon..
Invite our traveling exhibition 📩 @CONTACT to your institution and
Learn more about the Initiative “Paul A. Levine Library”: “Who are we? What are we doing? What are our goals?” – a short intro answers these basic questions.
“I will soon be in Boston for a documentary film about the Armenian Genocide that I ́ve been asked to participate in.” – Paul A. Levine, correspondence, April 2019.
“… our visit to the Boston Public Library was of even more personal interest to me because of Irwin [Hoffman][1].” – Paul A. Levine, correspondence, April 2019.
A Traveling Tombstone “Tevat Paul“, series: “Zweisam”; Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Material: Diabas, 10 x 10 x 12 cm. Engraved: “Responsible irresponsibility – Paul A. Levine”.
Visiting Boston & Cambridge MA
As easily as Tevat Paul turned all its six diabas-facets towards the United States, not needing a visa as such, it once again attracted much attention from the authorities on both sides, crossing the next border in a mesmerizing flight over the lakes of New England.
The Tevat Paul sculpture, accompanied by the author of these lines, has arrived at its destination: on a sunny day…
Paul Levine arrived in Boston in September 2019, on his last business trip to the United States. On that trip for the last time, he should have met his relatives living in the area[2]…
…Quite unique was, that in Boston–as was discovered several years ago–a part of my own family has been found, the “lost family tribe”, the branch of the family disconnected since World War II. Being on the road with the Tevat Paul project, currently on the North American continent, I received an invaluable gift for Pesach Sameach: the opportunity to meet my “lost” family. And so, I did!
My grandmother’s niece, Ninotchka, born in Lviv in 1939, who survived WW2 as a child (in her book I will later learn the history of her parents and siblings during and after the war), and her mishpucha shared with me family warmth, and a memorable Pesach Seder evening, which I was fortunate to be a part of. Our gathering was not only imbued with love of family, but it also became a source of new ideas and meetings in connection with the project.
The meeting with Professor Omer Bartov, in Cambridge MA, and my introduction of the project Tevat Paul to him, was truly the icing on the cake of my trip to Boston. Historian Omer Bartov was one of the first to support the initiative. Also, together with Professor Alvin H. Rosenfeld, Bartov participated in the memorial international meeting dedicated to Levine in 2020, where the historians contributed their names and talks to the idea of the Initiative “Paul A. Levine Library”. Now, for the hexahedral sculpture Tevat Paul to be held in the hands of the historian and friend Omer Bartov is highly symbolic.
Tevat Paul – A Traveling Tombstone – visiting Boston and Cambridge MA, 2022.
I express heartfelt thanks to everyone who made these two significant meetings possible, and with deep gratitude provide several photographs capturing some historical moments.
Do you too feel connected to Professor Paul A. Levine and his work, and would you like to meet Tevat Paul, a Traveling Tombstone dedicated to the star-historian as well?
Drop me a note 📩 @CONTACT and let us schedule a meeting.
Footnotes: [1] The American painter Irwin D. Hoffman, who was related to Paul A. Levine, sent, as some believe, to General Israel Orphans Home for Girls in Jerusalem "a violin each year and bequeathed money for an auditorium in his mom's name and the Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston…" "My mother gave me several of his [Hoffman] etchings... which are achingly beautiful…” – From Levine’s correspondence, April 2019, Paul A. Levine Library. [2] Meeting the president of Latvia Vikes-Freibergas at the release of the Latvian translation of “Tell Ye Your Children”, in 2001, and giving his talk in a magnificent room in Riga, Levine spoke about his grandfather and grandfather’s brothers departing Riga and arriving on the Chelsea Boston docks. – Levine, P. A., notes summer 2018.
“…there´s a not inconsiderable Canadian connection in both my personal and professional life…” — Paul A. Levine, Summer 2018.
A Traveling Tombstone “Tevat Paul“ in Toronto; series: “Zweisam”; Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt. Material: Diabas, 10 x 10 x 12 cm. Engraved: “Responsible irresponsibility – Paul A. Levine”. Photo credits: Amir Gavriely. 2022.
The first stop on this unique journey of A Traveling Tombstone Tevat Paul is Toronto, Canada, a country that, according to historian Paul A. Levine, was of great importance in his life.
👉 A Traveling Tombstone Tevat Paul made its first city tour, posing in a number of prominent and lesser-known urban locations. This sculpture is a project in collaboration with sculptor Robert Schmidt-Matt and the initiative “Paul A. Levine Library”.
Here, in downtown Toronto, a long-awaited meeting with activists of the initiative Nataly Khazin and Amir Gavriely took place recently.
Israeli-Canadian photographer Amir Gavriely captured some moments of our meeting and also his impressions of meeting the sculpture Tevat Paul live, perfectly fitting it into the architectural context of the North American metropolis. An important detail: we owe this wonderful and meaningful name of the sculpture to Amir, who suggested the name Tevat Paul. Indeed, what a great idea!
Now then: see & admire Tevat Paul in Toronto.
CN TowerArt Gallery of Ontario – extension designed by Frank GehryTwo Large Forms – by Henry Moore, at Grange Park, TorontoTevat Paul – A Traveling Tombstone in Canada. Photo credits: Amir Gavriely. Two Large Forms – by Henry Moore, at Grange Park, TorontoRobarts Library, University of TorontoArt Gallery of Ontario – extension designed by Frank GehryA Traveling Tombstone Tevat Paul in Canada. Photo credits: Amir Gavriely. At Hart House, University of Toronto Student CentreLittle Free Library, Huron Street, TorontoAt Hart House, University of Toronto Student CentreA Traveling Tombstone Tevat Paul in Canada. Photo credits: Amir Gavriely. Amir & Elena; Tevat Paul – A Traveling Tombstone in Toronto.Unionville, just north of TorontoOntario College of Art & Design University.A Traveling Tombstone Tevat Paul in Canada. Photo credits: Amir Gavriely. a natural stone (Diabas) sculpture commemorating Holocaust historian Paul A. Levine, with his epitaph carved into it: “Responsible Irresponsibility. Paul A. Levine”.A Traveling Tombstone Tevat Paul in Canada. Photo credits: Amir Gavriely.
See A Traveling Tombstone Tevat Paul – few more impressions
On my way to Boston and Cambridge, I’ll talk to you soon.
Along with sculptor Robert Schmidt-Matt, we are launching the Traveling Tombstone project, a natural stone sculpture series commemorating the Holocaust historian Paul A. Levine, with his epitaph carved into it:
“RESPONSIBLE IRRESPONSIBILITY. PAUL A. LEVINE“
Tevat Paul – A Traveling Tombstone series. Diabas 10 x 10 x 12. Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt.
– Because the burial site for historian Paul A. Levine is a collective grave at the edge of the cemetery road.
In the last six years of his life the prominent Holocaust historian Paul A. Levine lived and researched in Berlin. Here, in Berlin, he wanted to be buried and known; Levine wished a tombstone for his last resting place. For an inscription on it he left his wording, an afterglow in the form of the oxymoron
“RESPONSIBLE IRRESPONSIBILITY”,
but for unknown reasons his wish was denied,
This thoughtlessness had irreversible consequences and precluded any possibility of fulfilling Professor Levine’s will to erect a tombstone with his personally prepared words. His idea of an individual tombstone was thus destroyed.
How do we respond to such Irretrievable Destruction❓ When the place of burial is collective – where, then, is Levine’s own grave❓ In which culture of remembrance do we find the grounds that make it possible to separate locality❓
💡 A Traveling Tombstone sculpture series is both an artistic challenge and a pragmatic attempt to find a solution, after two years of dealing with these thorny question. The answer seemed self-evident – we transform a senseless act into a meaningful memorial: a Traveling Tombstone!
PILPAUL
TEVAT PAUL
BEYAHAD LO NI-PAUL
A Traveling Tombstone Series – The Idea
Inspired by Daniel Boyarin from his book “A Traveling Homeland”[1], the answer was found (obvious for a student of Jewish Studies): if a homeland can travel as a concept, then, under certain circumstances, a monument/tombstone could travel as well.
[1] Professor of Talmudic Culture, historian and philosopher of religion Daniel Boyarin argues that Jews carry their homeland with them into the diaspora in the form of textual community built around the study of the Talmud. In: Boyarin, Daniel, A Traveling Homeland, 2015.
Based on these considerations, but above all to fulfill the last wish of the Jewish-American-Swedish historian, the idea of A Traveling Tombstone was created. On the one hand, the new concept should illuminate the idea of the monument from a different perspective. Moreover, the memory of Paul A. Levine would be carved in stone, as he wished, with his own last words.
The search for a solution brought together the Initiative and Robert Schmidt-Matt, an artist working in Kreuzberg, Berlin. A special detail – the core idea in all his works – is the integrity of the parts and their simultaneous inseparability. His way of dealing with contradiction was highly convincing when his sculptures, full of dialectics, appeared before the observer. Through the inseparability and simultaneous integrity of the opposing parts in the Berlin sculptor’s art, the most important basic law of dialectics, the essence of dialectic contradiction, becomes visible: the unity and the struggle of opposites, which is obviously also hidden in Levine’s message.
“RESPONSIBLE IRRESPONSIBILITY”
It is a seemingly irrational message that might want to give us the basic idea about life and history: The history of mankind, like life itself, is anything but rational – both are full of contradictions.
Dedicated to the Holocaust historian in 2021, Tevat Paul is the fives sculpture from the existing series Zweisam by the Berlin artist. It is the sculpture No. 1 that opens the proposed new series, A Traveling Tombstone, in memory of Paul A. Levine.
Our goal
We aim to present the Traveling Tombstone series as a piece of art and a concept in different places, to visit our partners, to find new friends and further support.
Invite our traveling exhibition 📩 @CONTACT to your institution and
— A project in collaboration with sculptor Robert Schmidt-Matt and the initiative “Paul A. Levine Library”.
This natural stone sculpture series is planed in memory of the Holocaust historian Paul A. Levine, with his epitaph carved into it:
“RESPONSIBLE IRRESPONSIBILITY. PAUL A. LEVINE”
A Traveling Tombstone Tevat Paul. Diabas 10 x 10 x 12. Sculptor: Robert Schmidt-Matt.
Why A Traveling Tombstone for Paul Levine?
– Because the burial site for historian Paul A. Levine is a collective grave at the edge of the cemetery road.
In the last six years of his life the prominent Holocaust historian Paul A. Levine lived and researched in Berlin. Here, in Berlin, he wanted to be buried and known; Levine wished a tombstone for his last resting place. For an inscription on it he left his wording, an afterglow in the form of the oxymoron “RESPONSIBLE IRRESPONSIBILITY”. But for unknown reasons his wish was denied,
This thoughtlessness had irreversible consequences and precluded any possibility of fulfilling Professor Levine’s will to erect a tombstone with his personally prepared words. His idea of an individual tombstone was thus destroyed.
How do we respond to such Irretrievable Destruction❓ When the place of burial is collective – where, then, is Levine’s own grave❓ In which culture of remembrance do we find the grounds that make it possible to separate locality❓
💡 A Traveling Tombstone sculpture series is both an artistic challenge and a pragmatic attempt to find a solution, after two years of dealing with these thorny question. The answer seemed self-evident – we transform a senseless act into a meaningful memorial: a Traveling Tombstone!
PILPAUL
TEVAT PAUL
BEYAHAD LO NI-PAUL
A Traveling Tombstone Series – The Idea
Inspired by Daniel Boyarin from his book “A Traveling Homeland”[1], the answer was found (obvious for a student of Jewish Studies): if a homeland can travel as a concept, then, under certain circumstances, a monument/tombstone could travel as well.
[1] Professor of Talmudic Culture, historian and philosopher of religion Daniel Boyarin argues that Jews carry their homeland with them into the diaspora in the form of textual community built around the study of the Talmud. In: Boyarin, Daniel, A Traveling Homeland, 2015.
Based on these considerations, but above all to fulfill the last wish of the Jewish-American-Swedish historian, the idea of A Traveling Tombstone was created. On the one hand, the new concept should illuminate the idea of the monument from a different perspective. Moreover, the memory of Paul A. Levine would be carved in stone, as he wished, with his own last words.
The search for a solution brought together the Initiative and Robert Schmidt-Matt, an artist working in Kreuzberg, Berlin. A special detail – the core idea in all his works – is the integrity of the parts and their simultaneous inseparability. His way of dealing with contradiction was highly convincing when his sculptures, full of dialectics, appeared before the observer. Through the inseparability and simultaneous integrity of the opposing parts in the Berlin sculptor’s art, the most important basic law of dialectics, the essence of dialectic contradiction, becomes visible: the unity and the struggle of opposites, which is obviously also hidden in Levine’s message.
“RESPONSIBLE IRRESPONSIBILITY”
It is a seemingly irrational message that might want to give us the basic idea about life and history: The history of mankind, like life itself, is anything but rational – both are full of contradictions.
Dedicated to the Holocaust historian in 2021, Tevat Paul is the fives sculpture from the existing series Zweisam by the Berlin artist. It is the sculpture No. 1 that opens the proposed new series, A Traveling Tombstone, in memory of Paul A. Levine.
Our Goal:
We aim to present the Traveling Tombstone Seriesas a piece of art and a concept in different places, to visit our partners, to find new friends and further support.
Read more about the 
Paul A. Levine Library 