Page 64 [64]
OCR
62 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 demolishing 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 caricatures and which openly employ humorous stereotypes to show the opponent as ridiculous or simply despicable. A separate category is formed of pictures of occupants 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 construct 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
