Argument oder Illustration. Die Bedeutung von Fotodokumenten als Quelle. (Argument or Illustration. The significance of photographic documents as source)

The author claims that photographic evidence is solely used as
illustration, instead of being used as sources of quantitative
and qualitative data, especially as regards the photographs on
the Holocaust. Several examples are given of photographs with
different, and hence unreliabe, captions. The manipulation,
retouching, cropping etc. of 'objective' documentary photographs
is also discussed and illustrated. The work of several
'Propagandakompanien' (PK) photographers is described, and
illustrations are provided of commissioned documents on the
Warsaw Ghetto and the Concentration Camps. The politics
regarding official photographic practice are elucidated. The
author points out that (unknown) pictures in archives have to be
documented and used for research. In that context what is
important is not who took the photograph or where it was
published, but the intentions of the commissioning institutions
and editors. (German)
United States Holocaust Memorial Museums, Washington D.C.


Citaten:
Marec, G. le: Les Photos Truquées (1985)
Milton, S.: The Camera as Voyeur, Weapon and Witness (1987)
Kerbs, D. a.o.: Die Gleichschaltung der Bilder (1983)
Keller, U.: Fotografien aus dem Warschauer Getto (1987)
Knightley, Ph.: The First Casualty (1975)
Heydecker, J. J.: Das Warschauer Getto (1983)
Bourke-White, M.: Dear Fatherland, Rest Quietly (1946)
Mrazkowa, D. / Remes, V.: The Russian War 1941-1945 (1975)