Opleiding in de Reichsarbeitsdienst en militaire dienst in Nederland 1935 - 1943

This photo collage, ‘Opleiding in de Reichsarbeitsdienst en militaire dienst in Nederland’, is from an unknown date, by an anonymous artist. The monochromatic palette gives a sense of sobriety to the piece. It’s like a series of quick sketches, capturing fleeting moments of a heavy historical narrative. What strikes me is the texture of the image, how it looks like a page torn from an old album. The torn edges add a layer of history, of time passing, as if the artist is reminding us that history isn’t just about big events but also about personal memories and everyday life. Take the photo of the Dutch landscape with the windmill, that image is quite powerful in its simplicity. The monochromatic palette adds to the somber mood, each photo like a memory trying to surface. It reminds me of Gerhard Richter’s series ‘October 18, 1977’, a series of paintings based on black and white photographs of the Baader-Meinhof Group. Both artists, in their own way, use the photographic image to explore themes of history, memory, and the passage of time. Art is an ongoing conversation, after all.