Hommage to Hendrik Cramer (1884–1944). Avant-Garde-Poet – Adventurer – Resistance Fighter

This exhibition is the first ever dedicated to Hendrik Cramer (1884–1944), a writer now largely forgotten. As a poet, traveler, and resistance fighter, his extraordinary life embodies the hopes, utopias, and ruptures of the European avant-garde between the two world wars, uniquely bringing together artistic avant-garde, spiritual quest, and political engagement.

Youssef Tabti

For several years, the artist Youssef Tabti has been gathering documents, books, and archival material relating to the avant-garde of this era. With an installation created specifically for the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, he pays tribute to Cramer's life and work, while also opening a window onto the fascinating world of Le Grand Jeu — a movement as poetic as it was radical, whose eponymous journal saw only three issues appear between 1928 and 1930, and whose hidden influence continues to shape the intellectual and literary history of the twentieth century to this day.

Hendrik Cramer

Cramer was a Dutch writer associated with the Le Grand Jeu movement, one of the most independent and unusual currents of the literary avant-garde of the 1920s. His life was marked by a relentless search for spiritual truth and a desire to explore the hidden dimensions of human existence. 

During the Second World War, Cramer joined the French Resistance. True to his independent and rebellious spirit, he refused any form of ideological submission. After his arrest by the German occupying authorities, he was deported to the Neuengamme concentration camp, where he died in 1944.

The exhibition

The installation can be viewed in the basement rooms of the main exhibition during the opening hours of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial. Admission is free. The exhibition opening will take place on 13 September at 3 pm.

Photographs and concept: Youssef Tabti
Graphic Design: Anna Bertermann
Project supported by: Liebelt Foundation, Hamburg