Fotografie - Geschiedenis - Beeldvorming. Nederland en de Tweede Wereldoorlog. (Photography, History, Representation. The Netherlands and World War II).

A report on the symposium
""Fotografie-geschiedenis-beeldvorming'' held in Amsterdam,
October 30, 1992. Thematics: Photography studied from the
viewpoint of the historian, as well as a valuable cultural
heritage. Discussions are centralised around one specific topic:
the Netherlands and World War II. ""Photographs as a historic
source'' was discussed by Karel van Deuren. Laurent Roosens
(managing the Historic Archive of Agfa-Gevaert) discussed the
study of photography apart from the traditional art-historical
viewpoint. Diethart Kerbs also read on ""Photographs as a
historic source'', stressing the importance to verify the exact
historical moment the picture depicts, who was the photographer,
and why and by whom the image was made public. Johan M. Swinnen
discussed the techniques of photography of the special period.
Eric Somers read about journalistic non-tradition of Dutch press
photographers, and their social situation during the war. Flip
Bool (Dutch Photo Archive) read about the problem of the
authenticity of war pictures. Research on their authenticity has
just begon. The impact of war pictures was discussed, as well as
their representational character. Special mention was made of
the Dutch illegal groupe of photographers ""De ondergedoken
camera'', and the motives to do these dangerous imaging was
discussed.