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Alexander Savko's 'Heile, heile Welt' Exhibition at Galerie Paula Böttcher Berlin

exhibition · 2026-04-19

From November 29, 2002, to March 1, 2003, Galerie Paula Böttcher in Berlin showcased Alexander Savko's exhibition 'Heile, heile Welt,' which presented altered historical photographs. Savko creatively integrated Teletubbies characters into images from the Nazi era, producing screen prints enhanced with additional color layers. One notable piece features SS officers, including Heinrich Himmler, near the Dachau concentration camp alongside Teletubbies Po and Laa-Laa. Other works juxtapose these characters with Hitler, Mussolini, and scenes of concentration camps and executions. The exhibition's title, drawn from a German children's song, starkly contrasts with its unsettling themes. Critic Ellen Handler Spitz discussed Savko's art in 'Mirroring Evil – Nazi Imagery / Recent Art' (2002), situating it within a larger discourse on Nazi imagery.

Key facts

  • Alexander Savko exhibited 'Heile, heile Welt' at Galerie Paula Böttcher Berlin
  • The exhibition ran from November 29, 2002 to March 1, 2003
  • Savko inserted Teletubbies characters into Nazi-era photographs
  • One image shows Heinrich Himmler and SS officers picking flowers near Dachau
  • The works were created using screen printing with added color layers
  • Source photographs came from journalistic archives of the 1930s-1940s
  • The exhibition title references a German children's song phrase
  • Ellen Handler Spitz analyzed similar works in 'Mirroring Evil – Nazi Imagery / Recent Art' (2002)

Entities

Artists

  • Alexander Savko
  • Axel Lapp
  • Zbigniew Libera
  • Alain Séchas
  • Ellen Handler Spitz
  • Norman L. Kleeblatt
  • Woody Allen
  • Heinrich Himmler
  • Hitler
  • Mussolini

Institutions

  • Galerie Paula Böttcher Berlin
  • The Jewish Museum
  • ARTMargins Online
  • PBS Kids

Locations

  • Berlin
  • Germany
  • Munich
  • Dachau
  • New York
  • United States

Sources