Walter Benjamin, the German Jewish philosopher known for his cryptic pronouncements on art and history – “where see the appearance of a chain of events, [the Angel of History] sees one single catastrophe, which unceasingly piles rubble on top of rubble and hurls it before his feet”did not live a settled life. From the age of 13, when he was sent to boarding school in the countryside, Benjamin was on the move. Whether it was to continue his studies, look for work, or escape from Nazi persecution, Benjamin never spent long in one place. Despite this itinerancy, and despite being a leading Marxist intellectual, Benjamin did not travel lightly. On the contrary, Benjamin’s Marxism did not preclude him from being attached to (certain) commodities: most notably, a painting by the artist Paul Klee (featuring the angel that inspired Benjamin’s most famous thesis on history) and a vast personal
