The Lives and Afterlives of Amateur Soldier-Photography in World War II
July 01
July 1, 2025 | 10 a.m - 7 p.m
Museum für Kommunikation
Leipziger Straße 16, 10117 Berlin
PROGRAMM
The private images that amateur soldier-photographers created during the Second World War are one of its criti-cal material and documentary legacies. As examples of amateur photography, a cultural practice shared across boundaries of time, space, and ideology, these images demand consideration from interdisciplinary and trans-national perspectives. But as sources and texts, they invite as many questions as they answer: what roles did they serve during the war and what roles do they play in today’s global and digital world? What do they disclose about the intertwined histories of racism, misogyny, and colonialism? What ethical responsibilities and implica-tions are involved when we look at graphic images of violence and genocide?
Contact:
Elissa Mailänder
elissa.mailander ( at ) sciencespo.fr
Program:
10 AM - 1 PM, Panel 1: Artistic Approaches
Coordination: Arno Gisinger
Art and War Photography, Martin Dammann
The last one is me - examples of the simulacrum, Tatiana Lecomte
P.O.V. (Point of View) 2016, Clemens von Wedemeyer
3 PM - 5 PM, Panel 2 : Roundtable Discussion:
The Lives and Afterlives of Amateur
Soldier-Photography in World War II
Welcome and Introduction: Peter Geimer (Deutsches Forum für
Kunstgeschichte Paris)
Moderation: Daniel H. Magilow (University of Knoxville, Tennessee)
Ofer Ashkenazi (Hebrew University Jerusalem)
Elisabeth Edwards (De Montfort University, Leicester / Oxford University)
Elissa Mailänder (Sciences Po Paris / Centre Marc Bloch Berlin)
Sophie-Charlotte Opitz (Bucerius Kunst Forum Hamburg)
5 PM - 7 PM : Reception
© Martin DAMMANN, « Erste Totale », Aquarelle, 192 x 277cm, 2005
