Optocht NSB 1936 - 1937

This is a small, black and white photograph in the Rijksmuseum of a march by the NSB—the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands—and it's been made by an anonymous artist. The image shows a moment frozen in time, a procession of figures moving with purpose. It makes me think about the power of images, how they capture not just what something looked like, but also the emotions and the atmosphere. I wonder what the photographer was thinking when they made it? Were they trying to document, to protest, or something else entirely? I feel a sense of unease looking at this photograph, a chill that runs deeper than just the monochrome tones. The figures are marching into the unknown and it reminds us that photography can be both a witness and a participant in history. It is through images like this that we can have a dialogue with the past.