Who, in all honesty, has ever heard of the Aromanian people? And the Sephardi Jews of Sarajevo – how many people know that they have nurtured to this day the traditions and the language of the Spanish Jews expelled by the Inquisition of 1492? Just as little known are the Gottscheer people, a German-speaking population living on the border between Croatia and Slovenia, not to mention the Albanian Arbereshe community, who have lived in southern Italy for over 500 years; or the Sorbs, a Slavic people, who settled in Lusatia, a region of eastern Germany, at the time of Charlemagne… Over the past few years the photographer Kurt Kaindl and the writer Karl-Markus Gauß visited five of Europe’s smallest ethnic groups, minorities which today are struggling for survival as a nation. Kaindl approached these unknown Europeans with curiosity, but also with respect. He has produced images of touching intensity; they depict bizarre landscapes, dilapidated cemeteries, and pretty little towns – and people accustomed to asserting themselves. Karl-Markus Gauß outlines the history of these nationalities and gives an account of the experiences a traveller can make when venturing into the Europe of the unknown.

Kurt Kaindl, *1954 in Gmunden, Austria. Lives and works in Salzburg.
Karl-Markus Gauß, *1954 in Salzburg, Austria. Lives and works in Salzburg.