Seyss Inquart verwelkomt kinderen Possibly 1940

This photo by Polygoon, currently held in the Rijksmuseum, feels like a moment frozen in time. Imagine the photographer, hunched over their camera, peering through the lens, trying to capture the right angle. The subjects in the photograph are frozen, faces fixed, as if caught mid-sentence. What were they thinking? Were they complicit, naive, or just trying to survive? The greyscale tones seem to flatten the scene, compressing the emotional depth. It’s easy to feel repulsed by the image, but let’s try to consider it without judgement. What can it teach us? What can it tell us about the relationship between seeing and knowing? How does it reflect the weight of history? Perhaps, by grappling with these difficult questions, we can find new ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world.