Wehrmacht militairen op appel 1941 - 1942

Curator: Well, that’s sobering. There’s an intense stillness in this image. A kind of dread… like a held breath before a storm. Editor: Indeed. Here we have an intriguing gelatin-silver print from the Rijksmuseum collection. "Wehrmacht militairen op appel," which translates to "Wehrmacht Soldiers on Parade." Though the photographer remains anonymous, the work is dated from 1941 to 1942. Curator: The way they’re lined up… identical uniforms, almost blurring together… it's designed to strip them of individuality. See how that one officer is placed; it reinforces a clear hierarchy. Editor: Precisely. The photograph deploys a rather stark realism. Note the sharp contrasts in the monochrome palette. The geometry of the architecture in the background juxtaposes starkly with the organic forms of the bare trees; mirroring the structured militarism against nature's indifference. Curator: Indifference is a good word. Even the buildings… they’re just sitting there. The Burgers sign feels bizarrely mundane next to… this. Editor: That mundane quality creates a disjunction, unsettling in its very ordinariness, in that way archive photography often does. By foregoing overt artistry, this particular photograph creates a space where the viewer is implicated through the gaze. The print itself then functions as a document that makes the viewer a potential witness, retrospectively. Curator: It works. I keep expecting someone to move, to break the silence. There’s so much unspoken here… you fill in the gaps with everything you know. Editor: And it’s the arrangement, the composition, that forces that filling-in upon us. What initially appears to be a straightforward photograph is instead, a highly formalized document in monochrome. A silent scream for the history it portrays. Curator: Definitely an image that lingers, not easily shaken off. Editor: A moment captured, but also, an echo… I am still hearing it.