BETWEEN DESTRUCTION AND HOPE. ODERLAND AND BERLIN IN THE SPRING OF 1945

BETWEEN DESTRUCTION AND HOPE.
ODERLAND AND BERLIN IN THE SPRING OF 1945. PHOTOGRAPHS BY VALERY FAMINSKY.

Eighty years ago, from April 16 to 19, 1945, the Battle of the Seelow Heights took place just a few kilometers from here. These largest combat operations on German soil were the decisive step by the Soviet Army in its advance on Berlin, which ended with the liberation of Germany and its surrender on May 8, 1945.

Valery Faminsky (1914–1993) accompanied the advance on the capital as a photographer, documenting the military hospital system at the front on behalf of the Red Army Military Medical Museum. In fact, he photographed much more: wounded soldiers, civilians fleeing, completely destroyed houses, but also soldiers playing cards, curious and fearful glances from civilians, moments of human care. These are images that convey both destruction and hope, free of propaganda and unembellished.

Images that should not really have been allowed to exist, as they often bear witness to the individual suffering of their own soldiers, in contrast to the official narratives of heroic fighters and victory celebrations. Faminsky should have handed over all the photographs, but in fact he kept the negatives. After Faminsky's death in 1993, the material was initially forgotten until Ukrainian artist and photographer Arthur Bondar (*1983) rediscovered this treasure trove of contemporary history in 2016. He recognized the uniqueness of the images, which can be classified as important evidence of war photography, and acquired them. Bondar works with archives and found objects related to collective memory, identity, and nation, among other things. Together with Ana Druga and Thomas Gust from Galerie Buchkunst Berlin, Arthur Bondar keeps Faminsky's memory alive.

Archive Collection: Arthur Bondar
Curator: Simon Häuser
Place: Schloss Neuhardenberg (Seelow, Germany)
Year: 2025