According to Walter Benjamin, we find in the images of recollection and dreams access to a potential of not yet actualized meaning. The images of recollection and dreams are images of the unfulfilled in history, both general and personal. The past has left traces which primarily are the traces of absence. They are traces of something unrecognized in their own time, overseen and forgotten by the course of history. In the sudden moment of recollection, this course can be brought to a standstill, and the images can reveal their salvaging value.