Haim, der Friedensmann / 2025

Participatory memorial intervention in public space

The Baković Sisters Days, Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past, in cooperation with the Zagreb City Libraries / Božidar Adžija Library
Curator: Saša Šimpraga
Zageb, Croatia

The work, conceived as a graphic-linguistic poetic form, sheds light on a relatively unknown figure of the antifascist movement in Zagreb, Haim Friedman, drawing inspiration from his name. The concepts that appear in Haim’s first and last name—often spelled in various ways in historical sources—are: home, life, human, and peace. The minimalist approach nonetheless reveals the full complexity of a sociolinguistic organism, through historical, cultural, geographical, and temporal coordinates.

By deconstructing the name Haim Friedman into its constituent elements—through etymological analysis, translation, and interpretive shifts across Croatian, German, Yiddish, Hebrew, and Arabic—the work reveals existing connections while simultaneously generating new associative constellations. Language functions here as both archive and medium, subtly articulating historical and humanistic contradictions: cycles of trauma and violence juxtaposed with universal aspirations for peace, safety, and the right to a home, across cultures and epochs.

The project is realized through the medium of the flyer, referencing the historical format of the pamphlet as a tool of political communication. Given the limited archival material concerning Haim Friedman’s life and activities, the work operates at the intersection of historical research and speculative reconstruction. Documentary fragments are expanded through artistic imagination and repositioned within a contemporary framework. Temporal layers, perspectives, and methodologies overlay. The project poses a speculative question: how might a figure such as Friedman, who organized antifascist youth groups in the Savska Street area and worked at a paper wholesale store on Deželićeva Street, respond to current geopolitical realities, including the ongoing violence in Gaza?

Rather than employing direct slogans or explicit calls to action, the pamphlet adopts a poetic and reflective mode. Friedman’s name is transformed into a graphic-linguistic composition that gestures toward a broader socio-historical context. The sequence of concepts derived from the name is extended into Arabic, prompting reflection on contemporary conflicts and their historical continuities.

The flyers were installed over a one-month period along Savska Street, between the location of the former paper wholesale store on Deželićeva Street and the intersection of Savska and Vukovarska Streets. The project concluded with a performative walk originating from the building courtyard on Deželićeva Street, during which visitors became active participants by distributing red scrolls titled Haim, der Friedensmann to passers-by.

The Baković Sisters Days are organized by Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past, in cooperation with the Zagreb City Libraries / Božidar Adžija Library. The project was conceived by Saša Šimpraga.

The project is supported by the City of Zagreb / City Office for Culture and Civil Society, based on the public call “Culture and Art in the Community.”