If you’re male, 85 and German then the chances are that you fought in WWII. Even if you’re just over 65 then there’s the likelihood that you will remember something about the war, or at least have experienced some of its after effects even though you were just a child, Growing up German, even today, there’s no escaping the memory of that terrible period in history when over 70 million people were killed.
We’re all familiar with the stories of extraordinary suffering at the hands of the Germans during the war. New York-based photographer Fleck was struck at how German memories of the war and the suffering that Germans experienced were still stories that hadn’t been told, and there was just enough time to tell them. At the end of 2009 he made a special trip back to Germany to photograph and interview men and women (75-95) who had been soldiers, prisoners, refugees, victims, or just ordinary people caught up in the war who now looked back and told him their stories.
Fleck’s color photographs are haunting and poignant portraits of these men and women. The interviews were made at the same time that the sitters had their pictures taken, and, in all cases, in the subjects’ homes. This enabled some sitters to spontaneously provide their own props that were, in each case, a special part of the memory they were recounting. All the portraits were shot using daylight which was important to Fleck to ensure his subjects felt relaxed and not intimidated by the usual process of portraiture.
New York City, NY; NYC