On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, future first prime minister of Israel, declares the state's independence, outlining the Jewish story: "The people kept faith with (the land) throughout their dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom." It was the birth of an internationally recognized Jewish homeland.

While the controversial idea of a God-given land for Jews has biblical roots, the Holocaust was a close, powerful backdrop for the significance of Israel's founding. Nazi Germany murdered six million Jews across Europe, and those who survived the concentration camps endured expulsion and forced labor. The above photo shows survivors of the Auschwitz camp following liberation.

Directly after Israel's founding, it was attacked by troops from Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq - among others. Israel pushed back and expanded its control over 77% of Palestinian territory. Some 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes. "Nakba" is what Palestinians call this event. The war encapsulated the still unresolved Mideast conflict sparked in 1917 with the Balfour Declaration.

These land collectives, known as kibbutzim in the plural, were established across Israel following independence. Many were run by secular or socialist Jews in an effort to realize their vision of society.

Tensions with its Arab neighbors erupted in the Six-Day War in June 1967. With a surprise attack, Israel is able to swiftly defeat Egypt, Jordan and Syria, bringing the Arab-populated areas of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights under Israeli control. Victory leads to occupation — and more tension and conflict.

Israel's settlement policy worsens the conflict with Palestinians. Due to development and expansion of Jewish areas on occupied Palestinian land, the Palestinian Authority accuses Israel of making a future Palestinian state untenable. Israel has largely ignored the international community's criticism of its settlement policy, arguing new construction is either legal or necessary for security.

In winter 1987, Palestinians begin mass protests of Israel's ongoing occupation. Unrest spreads from Gaza to East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The uprising eventually wound down and led to the 1993 Oslo Accords — the first face-to-face agreement between the government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the representative body of the Palestinian people.

With former US President Bill Clinton as a mediator, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (left) and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat hold peace talks. The result, the Oslo I Accord, is each side's recognition of the other. The agreement leads many to hope that an end to the Israel-Palestine conflict is not far off, but peace initiatives suffer a major setback when Rabin is assassinated two years later.

A right-wing Jewish fanatic shoots and kills Rabin on November 4, 1995, while he is leaving a peace rally in Tel Aviv. Rabin's assassination throws the spotlight on Israel's internal social strife. The divide is growing between centrist and extremist, secular and religious. The photo shows Israel's then-acting prime minister, Shimon Peres, next to the empty chair of his murdered colleague.

Nazi Germany's mass murder of Jews weighs on German-Israeli relations to this day. In February 2000, Germany's then-President Johannes Rau addresses the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in German. It is a tremendous emotional challenge for both sides, especially for Holocaust survivors and their descendants, but also a step towards closer relations after unforgettable crimes.

In 2002, amid the violence and terror of the Second Intifada, Israel starts building a 107-kilometer-long (67-mile-long) barrier of barbed wire, concrete wall and guard towers between itself and Palestinian areas of the West Bank. It suppresses the violence but does not solve the larger political conflict. The wall grows in length over the years and is projected to reach around 700 kilometers.

Germany's current foreign minister, Heiko Maas, steps decisively into an ever closer German-Israeli relationship. His first trip abroad as the country's top diplomat is to Israel in March 2018. At the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem, he lays a wreath in memory of Holocaust victims.

The former department store with its striking facade is the epicenter for artists and visitors alike at this year's documenta. In the ruruHaus, artist collectives present themselves and events take place. Practical for visitors: From here, all other documenta venues can quickly be reached.

The Museum Fridericianum has often served as a central location for documenta. This year, the organizers of the group Ruangrupa redefined the historic building as a "lumbung." The term refers to buildings in Indonesia that are communal harvest storage sites and important village meeting places. The artists want to meet with visitors here for workshops and discussions, among other things.

Against the magnificent backdrop of the Orangerie in the Karlsaue Park, this installation draws attention to the dark side of consumer society. The walk-in work "Return to Sender" by Kenyan artist collective The Nest highlights environmental destruction in southern countries caused by the transport of garbage, electronic waste and textiles.

The "Laserscape" installation at documenta 1977 was the world's first permanent laser light artwork — and it's still a nighttime landmark in Kassel. The beams connect the tower at the Museum Fridericianum, the Hercules Octagon and the Hessian State Museum, among other things. Definitely a "highlight" for the night owls among the visitors.

Probably no other documenta work has changed Kassel as permanently as "7000 Oaks: City Forestation instead of City Administration" by Joseph Beuys. In 1982, he tipped 7,000 basalt stones onto a square in the city center. Over the next five years, he moved stone after stone to new locations. At each, an oak was planted, such along this path. Local residents and tourists take pleasure in it.

The work "Idea di Pietra," by Giuseppe Penone, also addresses the coexistence of tree and stone. For documenta 13 in 2012, the Italian installed the skeleton of a tree, cast in bronze, in which a granite boulder is suspended. The nine-meter-high (29.5 ft) sculpture was purchased with donations by citizens of Kassel and now adorns the picturesque park landscape of the Karlsaue.

Over the years some works of art develop a symbolism of their own. The sculpture "Man Walking to the Sky," by Jonathan Borofsky, is one example. In 1992 it was part of documenta 9, but it remained in Kassel afterward, becoming a symbol of recovery for many citizens at a moment of great change: Kassel had been close to the border between East and West Germany; today it's in the geographic center.

The gigantic pickaxe is also a documenta relic. Its creator, Claes Oldenburg, was inspired by a pickaxe found near the city's Orangerie and entertained the idea that the famous Hercules monument in Bergpark Wilhelmshöhre could have thrown it. Thus, for documenta 7 in 1982, Oldenburg created a new landmark: a twelve-meter rendition of the steel implement right on the bank of the Fulda River.

This famous Hercules monument has been attracting visitors to Kassel for much longer than the documenta, which first took place in 1955. High above the city, the 8-meter (27 ft) representation of the demigod has been enthroned on a towering pyramid since the beginning of the 18th century. It looks out over Wilhelmshöhe Palace to downtown Kassel.

The octagonal base upon which the Hercules monument sits is also the starting point of another attraction that drew curious visitors to Kassel long before the documenta: On Wednesdays, Sundays and public holidays from May to October, the baroque waterworks flowing down the hillside enchant visitors from all over the world — and have done so for more than three hundred years.