the story behind it

this is the only existing photograph of my great-grandfather. when i was a child, i was frightened by this image, by the translucency and fragility of my great-grandfather's face. he died in his early 50s of stomach cancer.
an episode from this man's life informs my art project. my father told me fairly recently that "well, your great-grandfather, my grandfather, was a socialist and the gestapo arrested him in 1934." he had criticized hitler's regime by announcing his political opinion on the hauptmarkt, the town square in nuremberg. soon after, police took him to the station and kept him there until his wife and three daughters pleaded with the officials to release him. they claimed not having a source of income and would starve if their husband and father was being held in jail. he was released shortly thereafter.
this story is my family's connection to nuremberg's town square. had my dad not mentioned it to me, it would have eventually been forgotten. how many stories such as my great-grandfather's, are there? who remembers them? which stories do people remember and which ones would they rather forget? with my project, i want to add to the chronicles of nuremberg by recording stories related to the hauptmarkt, narrated by people in their own voices. the square's history of being a center of trade and commerce spurred my interest - i intend to exchange baked goods for anecdotes...