Wehrmacht soldaten op het dak van een kerk 1940 - 1941

This photograph, *Wehrmacht soldaten op het dak van een kerk*, was taken by an anonymous photographer. It's a small print, only a few inches tall. The texture of the photograph itself is what strikes me, it's got that old-fashioned matte surface, not shiny like the photos we take on our phones these days. It's like the image is embedded in the paper, part of the object itself. The tonal range is very narrow, almost monochromatic. The three figures on the roof are all dressed in similar drab colors, and their faces are mostly in shadow. If you look closely at their faces, they don't betray much emotion, and the overcast sky does little to brighten the mood. It reminds me a little bit of some of Gerhard Richter’s photo paintings, where the blurriness and the limited palette create a sense of distance, almost like a memory fading. It’s a kind of anti-monument, really. More of a question than a statement.