The forest was not only a source of inspiration romantic imagination, but also the birthplace of fairy tales - a world of princes and princesses, witches and wolves, plucky children, wicked stepmothers and talking animals. The fairy tales may seem like harmless children's stories, but make no mistake: They are full of violence and cruelty. A boy is fattened up to be slaughtered and cooked; a girl is eaten alive by a wild animal and a woman poisoning her step child. Most of the crimes described in fairy tales would today be a case for the FBI. Fairy-tale forests are park-like leisure facilities in which scenes from fairy tales are presented by three-dimensional figures, often life-sized and mechanically driven. In spite of their long history they are still a spectacle not just for little childeren, granny and granddaddies. I went on the trail of fairy tales and on a photographic research in fairy tale forests but didn’t want to transfigure or idealise them, but appreciate what they were and still are for me and many little and those adults who were children themself at one stage: Places of childhood remembrances which wait for rediscovery or even revival.
