Wehrmacht kompagnie op mars 1941 - 1944

Curator: This gelatin silver print, simply titled "Wehrmacht kompagnie op mars," dates from somewhere between 1941 and 1944. It resides here at the Rijksmuseum. The photographer is listed as Anonymous. Editor: There's a pervasive mood of bleakness here. The greyscale tones are muted, almost washed out. The composition focuses on this seemingly endless procession of soldiers marching down a country lane. It just exudes an unsettling quiet. Curator: The work is compelling precisely because it avoids overt propaganda. Its power rests, instead, in the visual manifestation of normalized power. We see a collective of soldiers, anonymized by their uniforms, moving through a landscape devoid of romanticism or grandiosity. This aligns, broadly, with a critical approach to history-painting. Editor: And consider the physical qualities of a gelatin silver print; the stark contrasts achievable. This is a document. It records a specific material moment, the march itself, and speaks to a much broader phenomenon of militarization and its intrusion into daily life. I also think the slightly ragged edge of the print itself speaks to the nature of documentation under duress, the everydayness of it. Curator: I would emphasize that this image also documents complicity, on some level. It reflects the insidious way in which the dominant ideology permeates the seemingly mundane. The photograph, regardless of the intentions of the unknown photographer, can serve as a record of national identity at the time and, more widely, the danger in unquestioning unity and patriotism. Editor: But photographs can also bear witness against the intent of their makers. There's a tension between the potential for heroic representation implicit in imagery of soldiers on the move and what is revealed instead—a certain regimented exhaustion, the sheer labor of movement. How many photographs like this were developed in field darkrooms at the time? How many more are lost to history? The sheer materiality of the print, the product of both chemical and human processes, offers a different perspective. Curator: I find that tension fascinating here. It's a difficult image because it avoids simplistic narratives. The historical importance is amplified by its aesthetic nuances and quiet subversions of the expected imagery. Editor: Yes, the layering of materiality and context gives this seemingly simple work its complexity and lasting power.