False Flag

This is a story of control and deception, the “Eiffel Tower of Gliwice,” and the site of a Gliwice incident (false-flag operation that provided the Nazi Germany with a pretext to declare war on Poland (the start of World War II in this region).

In Poland, in Silesia, in Gliwice, there is a wooden radio station. This station is an extremely important landmark for both the topography and the history of the city—it was here, on August 31, 1939, that the Gliwice provocation took place, a propaganda-driven diversionary operation that served as a pretext for Germany to declare war on Poland. It was a “false flag” operation—a covert operation carried out to mislead and create the impression that a particular group, nation, state, etc., was allegedly responsible for certain actions. The signal to begin the Gliwice Provocation was the phrase “Grandma died.” German attackers stormed a German radio station disguised as Silesians. However, the operation did not go as smoothly as expected. In the end, only nine words reached the listeners: “Attention, this is Gliwice. The radio station is in Polish hands…” Then the radio fell silent for reasons that remain unexplained to this day.

In the 1950s, the Gliwice tower was used to jam foreign radio stations, mainly Radio Free Europe.

Made of larch wood, the mast of the Gliwice radio station was built in 1935. Assembled with over sixteen thousand brass screws, it is the tallest wooden structure in Europe and the tallest wooden broadcasting station in the world. Based on current knowledge of wood preservation methods, the tower’s lifespan is estimated to be another fifteen to twenty years.

The graphic symbol representing the Gliwice radio tower is a visual emblem associated with the city and widely used to promote it. The tower itself is sometimes referred to in local media as the “Gliwice Eiffel Tower.”

My project is divided into two parts: in one part, I photograph the tower from various vantage points around the city and in various distorted forms—for example, reflected in the windows of nearby buildings, in the mirrors of scooters, etc.—as well as objects and graphic representations that depict it.

In the second part, I photograph myself with the tower—I approach people I encounter near the radio station and ask them to take a photo of me. The contrast between the “objective,” more topographical photographs of the mast and the “more subjective” perspective, which places a person against the backdrop of the tower, allows me to highlight the tourist aspect of this place, as well as serving as my way of searching for myself within this space.

To highlight the historical aspect of this place and its relationship with the city and its people, I also use archival photographs (courtesy of the Museum in Gliwice) taken during the construction of the radio tower.

The tower dominates the entire project, which may make the viewer feel uncomfortable. Observation, a lack of open space. In the project, the tower looks at the viewer, and the viewer looks at the tower. The tower controls and scrutinizes.