A central element of the exhibition “Machines roar, needle drags the thread, sharp knife shines, cuts in two and stabs” (Ravensbrück Memorial Museum) is the essay film “Privathandtaschen dürfen zum Außendienst nicht mitgetragen werden” (Private Handbags may not be carried when on duty), which summarizes Dominique Hurth’s long-standing research on the history of textiles at the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp. The film’s title comes from an order issued in 1942 by the camp commandant, Max Koegel, outlining instructions for the female guards on the proper way to wear their uniforms— and underscoring how the uniform serves to identify a person with the role assigned to them.
From one such guard’s uniform, held within the Ravensbrück Memorial Museum’s collection, Hurth developed a multi-year artistic research project into textile production in the Women’s Concentration Camp. Since 2017 she has spent several years conducting archival work at the Ravensbrück and Dachau memorial sites; undertaking visits and extended research stays at the Federal Archives, whereTexled’s company reports are kept; and engaging with the collections of the Military History Museum in Dresden, theatre costume depots, international fashion archives, and military museums in Paris and London. Hurth examined Texled’s company reports, pored over testimonies and witness protocols from post-war trials, and explored objects within the collections of memorial sites and other museums. Integral to her artistic research, too, have been her hands-on experiments with weaving practices and fabric-dyeing, leading subsequently to an intensive engagement with the materiality of textiles. Her research into the uniforms of the female guards and their production led the artist to become increasingly occupied with female perpetration under National Socialism, particularly within the figure of the female concentration camp guard. She investigated there presentation of the female Nazi perpetrator, pursuing questions of their portrayal, stereotyping, and trivialization from the post-war period to the present day. This opened up further areas for research, such as the omnipresence of uniforms within Nazi Germany; how the arms industry and the clothing industry, war and fashion, intersect; and economic continuities within textile production after 1945. In the film, the artist interweaves thematic constellations to shed light on textile history in relation to the economics of production, work processes, tools of labour,and mechanisms of violence, as well as its entanglement with both civilian and military clothing industries up to the present day. (Text: Anne Fäser)
From one such guard’s uniform, held within the Ravensbrück Memorial Museum’s collection, Hurth developed a multi-year artistic research project into textile production in the Women’s Concentration Camp. Since 2017 she has spent several years conducting archival work at the Ravensbrück and Dachau memorial sites; undertaking visits and extended research stays at the Federal Archives, whereTexled’s company reports are kept; and engaging with the collections of the Military History Museum in Dresden, theatre costume depots, international fashion archives, and military museums in Paris and London. Hurth examined Texled’s company reports, pored over testimonies and witness protocols from post-war trials, and explored objects within the collections of memorial sites and other museums. Integral to her artistic research, too, have been her hands-on experiments with weaving practices and fabric-dyeing, leading subsequently to an intensive engagement with the materiality of textiles. Her research into the uniforms of the female guards and their production led the artist to become increasingly occupied with female perpetration under National Socialism, particularly within the figure of the female concentration camp guard. She investigated there presentation of the female Nazi perpetrator, pursuing questions of their portrayal, stereotyping, and trivialization from the post-war period to the present day. This opened up further areas for research, such as the omnipresence of uniforms within Nazi Germany; how the arms industry and the clothing industry, war and fashion, intersect; and economic continuities within textile production after 1945. In the film, the artist interweaves thematic constellations to shed light on textile history in relation to the economics of production, work processes, tools of labour,and mechanisms of violence, as well as its entanglement with both civilian and military clothing industries up to the present day. (Text: Anne Fäser)
Private Handbags May Not Be Carried When On Duty. (“Privathandtaschen dürfen zum Außendienst nicht mitgetragen werden”)
96 minutes
German and English with subtitles
2025
Text, concept, editing: Dominique Hurth
Voice-over: Omar Nicolas, Dominique Hurth
English text editor: Aslan
German translation: Norbert Witzgall
Sound mastering: Titus Maderlechner
Color grading: Alexander Beyer
Media installation: vision b (Bert Günther & Björn Matzen)
Coordination: leo
Ravensbrück Memorial Museum, in the weaving mill of the former industrial yard (August 24th - October 31st, 2025).
A project by the Ravensbrück Memorial Museum, Brandenburg Memorials Foundation. Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
Supported by the Fondation Tour du Monde.
The research behind the film was commissioned by the Berliner Programm Künstlerische Forschung (Fellow 2022/23). The long version of the script was written during the Villa Serpentera Stipend in Olevano (2024, Akademie der Künste, Berlin / Villa Massimo, Rome).
Installation photographs:
CHROMA
96 minutes
German and English with subtitles
2025
Text, concept, editing: Dominique Hurth
Voice-over: Omar Nicolas, Dominique Hurth
English text editor: Aslan
German translation: Norbert Witzgall
Sound mastering: Titus Maderlechner
Color grading: Alexander Beyer
Media installation: vision b (Bert Günther & Björn Matzen)
Coordination: leo
Ravensbrück Memorial Museum, in the weaving mill of the former industrial yard (August 24th - October 31st, 2025).
A project by the Ravensbrück Memorial Museum, Brandenburg Memorials Foundation. Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
Supported by the Fondation Tour du Monde.
The research behind the film was commissioned by the Berliner Programm Künstlerische Forschung (Fellow 2022/23). The long version of the script was written during the Villa Serpentera Stipend in Olevano (2024, Akademie der Künste, Berlin / Villa Massimo, Rome).
Installation photographs:
CHROMA
