I Miss You, Auroch Cow

Jaktorów is a village with a memoriał to the world’s last auroch, a female that died in 1627. But in a land that bears little resemblance to the ancient Jaktorów Forest, few people give any thought to the animal. The auroch’s path to extinction actually began 10,000 years ago, when the species was first domesticated and when its natural habitat slowly began to shrink. The Heck brothers were the first to attempt to bring back the auroch in the 1920s by combining their knowledge of genetics and zoology with a chauvinistic ideology and fascination with ancient Germanie myths. The auroch was to be the embodiment of primordial Aryan strength. Enclosed in a hunting reserve called the Bialowieza Forest, it would be a trophy for Nazi hunters. The oak-framed photograph shows the monument to the last auroch cow in Jaktorów. The paraphrased inscription on the pedestal expresses longing and sorrow. Located by the DK 719 road and railway line, the boulder is usually (not) seen from the windows of passing vehicles. The photograph is accompanied by an object that fits in the palm of the hand – an auroch embryo made of two-thousand-year-old peat. Bogs and marshes have been drained for centuries in order to expand agricultural land. The debate on returning these areas to nature has returned today in the context of the European Biodiversity Strategy, which is criticised by the far right and farmers alike. The auroch is a symbol that brings together issues of environmental catastrophe, nature conservation, a romantic vision of nature and national identity.