Christmas in Nagasaki

December 24th, 2016

From Above exhibition at the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for Atomic Bomb Victims

December 22nd, 2016

..December 2016.. ..Nagasaki..

From Above exhibition at the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims is a part of 2016 Nagasaki International Peace Film Forum. The exhibition runs through December 25th.

The project hasn’t been exhibited in Nagasaki for two years so there are plenty of new portraits that are being shown for the first time in Japan.

1481846182876

From Above exhibition Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims

November 30th, 2016

..November 2016.. ..Nagasaki..

From Above will be exhibited at the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims as a part of 2016 Nagasaki International Peace Film Forum. The opening is on December 10th and the exhibition runs through December 25th.

The project hasn’t been exhibited in Nagasaki for two years so there are plenty of new portraits that will be shown for the first time in Japan.

nipff2016-1

nipff2016-2

Fragile

November 28th, 2016

scan0116

Rudolf Eichner

November 24th, 2016

..November 2016.. ..Dresden..

I recently found out that Mr. Rudolf Eichner passed away. He was one of the first fire bombing survivors I photographed in Dresden.

Mr. Eichner was photographed holding a chess piece that was given to him by his father while he was staying at the hospital. His father regularly visited him to play chess.

The hospital was destroyed by the second wave of bombers on February 13th, 1945. The injured struggled to scramble out of the hospital. Rudolf and a few others sought refuge in a nearby garden where they were cornered by the growing firestorm.

Every year on the anniversary of the bombings Rudolf returned to the spot where he had fought the inferno. Three years later, February 13th, 1948, he found a chess piece, a black knight, from the chess set destroyed by the flames.

Mr. Eichner was a proud man who rigorously fought during the DDR times and after unification for recognition of those who perished in the destruction of Dresden.

eichner9a

Dresden, DDR

November 2nd, 2016

..October 2016.. ..Dresden..

One of the few remaining sculptures made in the DDR times. Most of the signs of the DDR are found on the quiet back streets of Johannstadt, away from the city center where the tourists flock to see the baroque heart of Dresden.

1475852945518

Memorial to the Victims of Communism

October 31st, 2016

..October 2016.. ..Prague..

Memorial to the Victims of Communism.

1477651938699

Adriaan de Winter

October 30th, 2016

..October 2016.. ..Rotterdam…

I received the sad news that Mr. Adriaan de Winter passed away earlier this year. Mr. de Winter was a Rotterdam fire bombing survivor I photographed during January 2015 for From Above.

As a 14 year old, Mr. de Winter learned about the harsh reality of war immediately. On the second day of the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands, his house was destroyed. Four days later on May 14th, 1940 the house his family was staying in was smashed during the great air raid of Rotterdam. For the second time his family lost everything and that was just the start of the war.

During the occupation, Mr. de Winter was a member of the resistance. He and his father risked their lives secretly radioing Nazi positions to the Allied forces during air raids. While everyone was hiding in cellars during Allied raids they were transmitting coded messages near windows with small hand set radios.

After being caught he was sent to an internment camp where he escaped while being transported by cattle car. He managed to walk through most of the country reaching the Allied lines in Belgium. He fought bravely along side Scottish Rangers as the Allies advanced closer to the Netherlands. At the end of the war he witnessed the V2 revenge bombings in Antwerp and had the grisly experience of clearing dead bodies after one scored a direct hit on a movie theater.

I consider myself lucky to have spent time with Mr. de Winter. He experienced more as a boy than most do in a lifetime. It was an honor to have known him.

de-winter

Dresden, DDR

October 15th, 2016

..October 2016.. ..Dresden..

It’s abandoned…
It’s forgotten…

Sculpture made in the East German times sit lonely on the outskirts of the Dresden Neumarkt.

1476268464010

The Window of Remembrance

September 17th, 2016

scan0114