»Places chose you. They take hold of you, wether you wish them or not.« (Nick Cave) This happened to me almost one year ago. These old military grounds and the mostly abandoned buildings with their gloomy atmosphere fascinated me. I started to photograph them and research about their history. For over 130 years, this area was used by German, French and American armies as a training ground, an airfield and barracks. Today the area is in a change. When the visible traces are torn down to give place for new housing, nothing will remind of the sites' history. With this, documenting, telling the stories and thus creating a memory theatre is »Souvenir of Germanys« essence. It is about man's impact on the land and local history. But local history is also caused by world history, which is mirrored here. This portfolio visualizes several episodes of the past. Beginning with the German era until 1918. In the 1930s, the Griesheim airfield was a stronghold of gliding and aeronautical research. Many developments in aircraft construction that are still valid today came from the Griesheim airfield. But there were also close ties to the military and the Nazi regime. As a result of the Nazi regime and the World War, Griesheim was also bombed several times; the heaviest attack was on 24. December 1944 called »Mission 760«. On 24. March 1945, the US Army reached Griesheim, and the war ended for the town. The Americans used the military ground until 1992. In the cold war, the airfield became a missile launch area, despite the protest of the inhabitants. Today, this part of the site is a nature reserve, and the bunkers and hangars are abandoned. Aviation came back, too, in the form of American medical evacuation helicopters and civil pilots from two flying clubs. Today, only the gliders from Darmstadt's University are allowed to start and land here. And there was journalism, too. The European edition of the »Stars and Stripes« was edited and printed here until 2005 in a former German airforce barracks built in 1913. Walter Benjamin wrote, that »Whoever has once begun to open the fan of remembrance will always find new limbs, new rods, no image is enough for him, because he has recognized it: he could let it unfold, the essential is only in the folds…«. More or less, every day, I find new images, information and stories about this site. Dealing with this area is an ongoing project, which might end with a picture of the first new building. For the »Urbanautica Institute Awards 2021«, I chose a selection of the projects' images. The complete version, including a preview of the artist's book, can be seen here: https://www.marcelrauschkolb.de/souvenirofgermany00.