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Dagnostaw Demski
examples of portraits of rulers or presidents that were gunshot through. The images
of Marx (Fig. 14) and Pilsudski belong to the same category, although they are
marked by different beliefs, i.e. they symbolise, respectively, hatred of former rule,
and love towards a formerly significant and distinguished figure.
Apart from the political order, the symbols of religious order that were
meaningful for the community were also often destroyed. For instance, there
are images of churches, synagogues and orthodox churches being demolished.
Figure 27, showing the Holy Cross Church destroyed after the Warsaw Uprising,
and Figure 28, showing the ruins of St Florian church in Warsaw, are examples of
documentation made by the conquered in the form of documenting a crime.
‘There are numerous other images ( for example of burning a temple or demol¬
ishing a cross)—besides those reprinted here—that can serve as examples of such
acts. They form a special category of images depicting desecration in order to strip
the enemy of dignity. They are not very common in official circulation, but it is still
possible to find many examples, such as the offence against an orthodox church by
German soldiers, who jokingly put the ritual marriage crowns on their heads. It is
an act of disgracing something that is precious for the conquered. There are also
some images of desecration of monasteries and synagogues. It can be considered
an iconoclastic break in which the iconoclast, attempting to deface or destroy the
images, is the one who creates the image of the Other as the idolater, and is the one
who sets out to punish the idolaters for their false beliefs and practices.
‘The category of defaming images also covers photographs that resemble cari¬
catures and which openly employ humorous stereotypes to show the opponent as
ridiculous or simply despicable. A separate category is formed of pictures of oc¬
cupants surrounded by local children. On the one hand, such photographs show
the new order, hierarchy and authority as just and rightful, yet on the other hand
they stress the unequal status quo. The relationship between the new authority and
the defeated are characterised by destruction, by looking down upon the defeated,
and most of all by a conviction about the superiority of the new rulers. My initial
studies have shown that these images provoke a reaction, i.e. it is impossible to see
them and remain unmoved.
All these images, in a sense, bear witness to what was happening but also con¬
struct a myth that justifies the validity of such acts. I have here ignored the images
of cruelty and violence, such as scenes of execution by a fire squad, of the bodies of
victims, etc. Such images express even stronger gestures of overpowering the idols
of the Other.
The Impulse to Record in Wartime
Artistic expression was not the goal of taking photographs in wartime. Undoubtedly,
many images were used in propaganda. At the same time, some of these photographs
documented numerous painful wartime events. We do not know the authors of
these photographs. In all probability, they were not professionals—more likely