Elf leden van de Wehrmacht Possibly 1940 - 1946

Editor: Here we have a gelatin silver print, possibly from between 1940 and 1946, called "Elf leden van de Wehrmacht," or "Eleven Members of the Wehrmacht." It seems to depict a group of German soldiers casually posed on a grassy hillside. There’s something unsettlingly ordinary about it. What catches your eye in this photograph? Curator: Ah, yes. Ordinary. Disturbingly so, isn’t it? It’s a snapshot, really. You could almost mistake it for a group of young men on a picnic, were it not for the uniforms, the context, the knowledge of what those uniforms represented. It whispers of banality, that infamous "banality of evil." The very ordinariness makes the horror even more potent, don’t you think? It's the unposed nature, the lack of drama that's so chilling. Tell me, do you find your eyes drawn to any particular figure? Editor: I noticed one soldier seems to be slightly smirking; he appears younger than the rest and more self-assured. I wonder what he was thinking in that moment. It is true; their expressions and body language seem so normal... it contrasts starkly with the reality of what they represented. Curator: Indeed. It makes you wonder about their lives, doesn’t it? Were they eager participants or simply cogs in a machine? Were they thinking about home, about loved ones, or about the next battle? It is a poignant reminder that history isn't just dates and battles, but the accumulation of countless individual moments, thoughts, and choices, most of them unremarkable on the surface, but carrying a potential for tremendous horror or immense good. Makes you pause, doesn’t it? Editor: Definitely, it makes you reflect about collective and individual responsibility. Thanks for that perspective! Curator: My pleasure! Always a pleasure to share reflections.