War is over - dont forget the war Anamorfose Cahier

Ypres Salient World War II in Europe Holocaust Liberation

Anamorfose Cahier 1

War is over Don’t forget the war

Cover photo: Capt. Herman Wall, landing in Normandy, 1944, US Signal Corps

Some photos in this publication may shock you.

War is over Don’t forget the war Photo essay about the two World Wars that dominated the Twentieth Century

The Cahier is edited by

AnamorFose.be

Nieuwstraat 11 B-8870 Izegem, Belgium Phone: + 32 476 49 19 71 xavier@anamorfose.be www.anamorfose.be Š 2013 Xavier Debeerst

My grandmother stayed in Ypres until 1916 and witnessed several bombings and the destruction of the city and of life as she knew it. She used to tell me about the war. Not only about the horror, the fear and the struggle for survival but also about the children getting used to the war and playing in the ruins.

30 years later my parents suffered the same fate during the Second World War. They witnessed the terror of the Nazi regime and other extremist groups. They too had to struggle to survive amidst destruction and death.

My grandmother’s and my parents’ stories had an important element in common : nobody wanted the war. Not the soldiers on either side nor the civilians. Most soldiers they met, allied as well as German, didn’t want to be part of the war. They were simply forced to and had no other choice.

Both World Wars were incited by leaders, far away from the battlefields. They started the war and incited hatred among the people.

Personally I have difficulties to understand how people can start a war. How soldiers (the ordinary man in the street) can kill. Extremism scares me because it seems to be able to turn people into machines.

I always wonder what happens to soldiers and civilians once the war has ended. How do they manage to pick up the pieces and continue a normal, peaceful life after all that has happened?

Those were the questions on my mind when composing this catalogue of war photos.

Photos of battlefields, war leaders, holocaust, ordinary people trying to survive the war.

War is over, don’t forget the war.

Xavier Debeerst, September 2013

EDITO

Although I wasn’t around yet at the time, the First and Second World War have always played an important role in my life. I was born in Ypres, a city completely destroyed during the First World War.

For the first Anamorfose Cahier we have selected a number of photos from our collection, illustrating both World Wars. No complete historical overview but a photo essay based on some very remarkable and original prints.

World War I The Cahier sets off in November 1914 with a picture of African Soldiers in Veurne, Belgium. Photos of First World War African soldiers are rare. A group, often forgotten by history.

Of course Ypres and the Salient take an important place in the story of the First World War. We have selected three iconic photos by the Brothers Antony of Ypres. They were the only photographers in the ruins of Ypres.

Three photos of the Medieval Cloth Hall in the different states of destruction.

Ypres Salient was an important battlefield. We can hardly imagine the circumstances the soldiers in the trenches had to live and fight in. A set of 17 large size snapshots made by a Belgian photographer offer an interesting and intriguing insight in the life in and behind the trenches.

World War II In the 1930s a period of peace came to its end with the rise of several nationalist parties. The 1935 photo of the Nuremberg Nazi Congress is the first image of the rise of the nationalist party in Germany.

Striking is the photo album of a German Officer in the period 1936–1943.

This album shows the preparation of the war, the celebration of Hitler’s birthday and the battlefields of Eastern Europe and Russia. Sometimes shocking images.

The US Signal Corps played an important role in the registration of the Second World War. The first set are photos of the Nazi bosses made by the Signal corps from captured German movies.

Very intriguing are the photographs of the landing of the allied troupes on Omaha Beach in Normandy on 6 June 1944 made by Capt. Herman Wall.

These are the very first photos of the landing. You can almost feel the coast coming closer and see the soldiers preparing themselves for the landing. The sequence of these 12 large images is like a movie of the landing. Some of the images have become icons in our collective memory.

The photographer, Capt. Herman Wall, got severely injured during the landing. He endured a crossfire for three hours before being evacuated.

Capt. Wall lost his leg on Omaha Beach but still managed to get his film by pigeon post to the authorities to be developed. This is as close as we will ever get to the heroic landing in Normandy.

Intro

Twentieth century Europe was dominated by the two World Wars, which have changed the face of Europe and the rest of the world forever.

Liberation Although being the symbol for the end of the war, the landing in Normandy didn’t mean the immediate end of the war.

It took some time to free the rest of Europe. Photos of the liberation of Paris show the fights in the streets of Paris.

When the allied troupes continued their way through Europe, they discovered the atrocities of the Nazi regime. The discovery and liberation of several concentration camps was a shock for the entire world. The photos of the concentration camps went around the world and were published in all newspapers.

In May 1945 the allied and the German leaders gathered in Rheims for the surrender negotiations. The beginning of another chapter in the twentieth century history.

The Cahier ends with a positive note. The preparation of Liberation Day in France with lots of wine‌

“This photo was taken by Captain Herman Wall, commander of the 165th Signal Photographic Company. Having landed on Omaha Beach, Captain Wall and his men appear to have snapped away fairly uneventfully for an hour or so. However, Wall then suffered a serious leg wound, and was isolated from medical help for some time by enemy fire. He was eventually evacuated on a British-crewed craft, all the time insisting on keeping the camera which, very possibly, still contained this shot in undeveloped state. Part of Captain Wall's injured leg later had to be amputated. A notable image; thanks for posting.

Best regards, JR�

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Š Anamorfose 2013