Vertrek van Rotterdamse kinderen naar de "Ostmark" Possibly 1940 - 1947

This photograph, taken by Polygoon, captures a departure of children from Rotterdam to the “Ostmark.” It's a black and white image. It’s not abstract, but the graininess gives it a hazy, dreamlike quality. You can almost feel the air thick with emotion—anxious parents, excited children, the indifferent architecture of the train station. There’s a tension between the personal and the political. It makes you think, who made the decision to document this event? What were they thinking as they framed each shot? The hands reaching out from the train windows—some waving, some clutching—remind me of abstract marks. There's something about the physicality of the medium, the texture of the photographic paper, that echoes the emotional weight of the scene. I can't help but wonder how different artists, from photojournalists to painters, would interpret a similar subject. It's all part of an ongoing dialogue, a visual conversation through time.