Limbo Zone. Glossary

Limbo (from Latin limbus — edge, boundary) — A concept describing a borderline, “suspended” state of uncertainty. In a broad sense, it is a space or situation “in-between,” where a person or object is stuck, unable to fit into any final category. The term is used in psychology (stupor), religion (a place for souls), pop culture (Atomic Heart), and anatomy (corneal limbus).

“Vor der Kaserne, vor dem großen Tor…” — “Outside the barracks, by the corner light…” This is the first line of the soldier’s song “Lili Marleen,” performed by Lale Andersen in 1939. It gained immense popularity on both sides of the front during World War II. The lyrics were originally written by Hans Leip, a German soldier in World War I.

Fritz (Franz) Lang — Rudolf Höss. Commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp. In May 1945, he fled and hid under the alias of “boatswain Fritz Lang” on a farm in Schleswig-Holstein. On March 11, 1946, he was arrested by British military police at a farm near Flensburg. Extradited to Polish authorities on May 23, 1946. The Polish Supreme National Tribunal sentenced him to death by hanging on April 2, 1947.

Alexanderplatz — A key transport and historical hub in Berlin, which witnessed the height of Nazi propaganda (1933–1945) promoting antisemitism and racial theories.

The Doctor (of Philology) — Joseph Goebbels.

Vertigo — A medical term denoting true dizziness, creating the illusion that one’s own body or surroundings are spinning. Vertigo is also one of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic films, functioning as a psychological thriller with detective elements. The plot is based on the novel D’entre les morts (“From Among the Dead”) by Boileau-Narcejac.

KL / KZ Sachsenhausen — Sachsenhausen concentration camp, located in the town of Oranienburg in Germany. Established in July 1936.

Llorando (“Crying”) — A song performed by Rebekah Del Rio, a singer from David Lynch’s film Mulholland Drive (2001).

“No hay banda” (“There is no band”) — The iconic phrase spoken in Club Silencio in a scene from the same film. It signifies that everything happening here is a recording, an illusion, rather than a live performance, underscoring themes of artificiality, dreams, and manipulation.

Ladino — The Sephardic language / Judeo-Spanish.

Pz. II (Panzerkampfwagen II / Panzer II) — A German light tank developed by MAN in the 1930s, which saw action from the beginning to the very end of World War II. In 1939, the Pz. II was Germany’s most numerous tank.

“Katyushka” (SB / ANT-40) — A Soviet twin-engine, multi-seat frontline (medium) bomber. Produced between 1935 and 1941, it was used during the Spanish Civil War and the first half of World War II.

Mandala — A sacred geometric symbol in Buddhism and Hinduism, representing a complex structure inscribed within a circle (sometimes a square). It symbolizes a map of the cosmos, the universe, or a model of the “self.” It is considered a “container of energy.” Sand mandalas are often destroyed after completion as a symbol of life’s impermanence.

Geheime Reichssache — Top Secret Reich Matter (Альтернативный вариант: Top Secret State Affair, но слово Reichssache лучше сохраняет исторический колорит).

Breitenau — A concentration camp established in June 1933 in Guxhagen, 15 kilometers south of Kassel, on the grounds of a former monastery.

Bandoneon — A type of concertina, a free-reed musical instrument. It is responsible for the piercing, poignant sound of Argentine tango music.

Tango — The main musical theme of the film 12 Monkeys (directed by Terry Gilliam, 1995) — Suite Punta del Este by Astor Piazzolla, a composer and bandoneon virtuoso. The instrument’s melancholic and tense melody plays throughout the film, emphasizing the atmosphere of dystopia and the time loop.

The Book — The Trial by Franz Kafka. A parable about the absurdity of existence, a person’s helplessness before an all-powerful, faceless bureaucratic system, and metaphysical guilt. The protagonist, Josef K., is arrested without explanation and forced to participate in an endless judicial process.

“Yo estaba bien por un tiempo / Volviendo a sonreír / Luego anoche te vi…” — “I was alright for a while / I could smile for a while / But I saw you last night…” The opening lines of the song Llorando.

Houston Stewart Chamberlain. The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century. Volume 2. London, New York, John Lane. 1911 — The first English-language edition of the book by British author Houston Stewart Chamberlain. The book develops the author’s racial theory, assigning Jewish people the role of an “alien element” destroying European (Aryan) civilization. Chamberlain’s ideological concepts later found continuation in Adolf Hitler’s theories as outlined in Mein Kampf. According to Rudolf Hess, the Deputy Führer, upon the author’s death in 1927, Germany “buried one of its greatest thinkers, a fighter for the Germanic cause, as is written on the wreath laid on behalf of the Movement (NSDAP).”

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