Master's thesis, MFA, École Nationale Supérieur des Beaux-Arts de Paris, 2012
Mémoire et manque – Autour d'une archive familiale de guerre
Wilhelm Leder: Photographies et correspondance durant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale dans la Wehrmacht
Memory and Lack – Around a Family War Archive
Wilhelm Leder: Photographs and Correspondence During World War II in the Wehrmacht
Memory and Lack is an exploration of my great-grandfather's photographs and correspondence with his family during World War II between 1941 and 1945. Through my attempt to recreate the chronology of his battalion's movements through Europe (starting in the south of France and ending in Finland and Russia) with the help of hundreds of small-format pictures and letters, I investigated questions of what German soldiers were and weren't allowed to depict and write about during the conflict. Due to the status of my Grandfather's battalion (comprised of former political opponents), the battalion was quickly sent to the main front. Despite this exposure, the violence of the war almost never comes to the surface in his material. Clues as to what he experienced could only be found between the lines and outside of the photographic frame.
This master's thesis can be sent on demand as a PDF.