Portretten van Duitse militairen 1940

This black and white photograph, or rather a collection of photographs, was put together by an unknown artist and is now housed at the Rijksmuseum. Look at these portraits of German soldiers; so much is unsaid, the silence screams. I can imagine the artist, perhaps a reluctant archivist, carefully arranging these images within the confines of a dark album page. This arrangement speaks volumes. Each placement, each choice, feels heavy with the weight of history, of untold stories. What do we really know of these young men, caught between duty and desire? It reminds me how paintings are also built—layer by layer. Each gesture is like a carefully placed photograph in an album. And like paintings, these portraits, and their arrangement, invite endless interpretations. We all bring our own stories to what we see, after all. What stories do you see here?