KL Remembrance Day

[riccadonna]

As some of you are aware, to-day is the 70 anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz KL. I`m not sure this is the proper place for a little personal angle on the theme of the day, but for the time being I don`t have other forums or sites beside this one and anyway the photos are shot with Ricoh camera so I should qualify.
My father died in KL Majdanek in 1943 for taking part in resistance struggle. I visited the site, which is not as horribly spectacular as Auschwitz, many times and believe me it`s close to impossible for me to make a normal photo that could render the feel of the place, which in fact I believe no one ever can do it, at least for those that survived. Hence the desperate graffic twist I gave the photos not being able to do better. The color photograph is a part of my home altar, piece of barbed wire found at Majdanek, the grieving Christ holding a photograph of my father, was brought from country side by my mother. Stanislaw

 

[quester]

I usually don't appreciate heavy PP (and I know that you usually don't use it), but I agree with you completely that this is very apt here. The high contrast and the way it is dispersed in the photos give the content a sense of evil ambivalence and painful testimony. I think you have achieved what you were trying to, as hard as it is. 3,5,and 7 I like very much.
My wife's father was in the Hungarian forced labor brigades - it is astonishing what they went through.

 

[Orol]

Thanks for recalling, Stanislaw, by a nice artistic way. The humankind sadly seem to have too short memory so posts like yours make pretty much sense to me.

Peter

 

[riccadonna]

Thank you my friends. As to PP, you are right quester, it was the only way I could convey the feeling of " darkness at the noon " residing in the hearts of prisoners. Nr.3 was not as much as a selfie, what attracted me, was this solitary tree, growing within the barbed perimeter, which created question- who is prisoner and who is free- making me sometimes feel, that sometimes life turns tables on us. The tree, even if it cannot move, is free to grow and I`m the prisoner of my memory. In the case of nr.5 I wonder if you could make a bird in the window of watchtower and the birds sitting on the top of poles. There was opening in the bottom of watchtower and now and then the birds flew in having a trouble to get out. For me it was an ikon of black evil spirit still watching its doings. You know, some photographs gain from being enlarged. Nr.7 is showing a prosectorium table in the building adjacent to crematorium shown on the right in nr.6

 

[Blow-in]

A harrowing set. An impossible subject to comprehend let alone convey in photos but you have done a good job Stanislaw. This happened during the lifetime of many still alive. I mean it really was very recent and we should all be aware how quickly 'civilization' can slide down hill and even now in Europe ethnic warfare is on going.

Richard

 

[quester]

In the case of nr.5 I wonder if you could make a bird in the window of watchtower and the birds sitting on the top of poles. There was opening in the bottom of watchtower and now and then the birds flew in having a trouble to get out. For me it was an ikon of black evil spirit still watching its doings. You know, some photographs gain from being enlarged.

Thanks for the tip to look at the photo enlarged, indeed it is even better viewed this way. The image is stark enough as it is, that I didn't think of viewing it full size.

 

[Wiener]

Thanks for your personal insight into these times Stanislaw. As Richard mentioned, they brought sadness to so many lives; not many were left untouched.
My father survived, though imprisoned in a POW camp not far from Auschwitz. As a Scottish military prisoner (1940 to the end) he was not in immediate danger of losing his life I would guess, except perhaps though starvation. Those who somewhat randomly survived to return home to father the next generation makes me ponder the coincidence of our existence in the here and now...
Andy