Personen tussen de ruïnes aan het bij de molen aan het Oostplein te Rotterdam c. 1940 - 1945

This small black and white photograph by J. Nolte captures people among the ruins near the mill at Oostplein in Rotterdam. The image has an immediacy that is both stark and evocative. Look at the texture: the rough, broken edges of the buildings, the smooth expanse of the street. The contrast is striking, like the difference between memory and lived experience. The composition draws you in; your eye bounces between the figures in the foreground and the skeletal remains of the buildings behind them. It’s a scene of desolation, yes, but there's also an odd kind of beauty in the way the light falls, highlighting the details of the wreckage. The wires, like a spider's web, seem to connect the past and future, maybe pointing toward something new rising from the ashes. This piece reminds me of Anselm Kiefer's work, the way he deals with history and memory through materials and scale. Art like this resists easy answers. It’s more about the questions it provokes.