This archive is an ongoing project and continues to grow. A substantial
collection of photographs is already available, with new images being
added gradually as the collection continues to be documented and made
accessible.
It is a private initiative with the purpose of providing researchers, historians and the general
public with access to unfiltered and unaltered visual records of Europe, and a few
exceptions from the United States, during the years 1913–1946, at a time when digital
image manipulation has become effortless.
The growing circulation of AI-generated or manipulated images purporting to depict
historical events — including fabricated images claiming to show people in German
concentration camps during the 1940s — has highlighted the importance of making
authentic archival material more widely available.
This website contains digital copies of original (vintage) photographic prints that have been
collected from various international press archives over the course of many years. These
photographic prints entered the press archives shortly after the negatives were produced
and have been preserved in their original form.
All scans are presented unaltered and include both the recto (front) and verso (reverse) of
each print. The photographs have been categorized using only the location and/or date
recorded on the original prints. None of the original information has been altered, though
some dates have been corrected to the actual event day where information was available.
Any such changes habe been noted as corrections.
WHY THIS ARCHIVE MATTERS
The traces of a world consumed by war remain visible today. The Second World War
shaped the course of the second half of the twentieth century. National borders were
redrawn, political systems transformed, cities devastated, and the atomic age began. Its
consequences continue to influence the world in which we live.
More than eighty years have passed since the war ended. For almost everyone alive
today, the conflict is something known only through books, films and the accounts of
others. These sources are invaluable, but they cannot replace original contemporary evidence.
This archive focuses on photographs taken between 1913 and 1946, documenting the
war and the destruction caused, aspects of everyday life, wartime service and the
changing realities faced by Europeans.
The accompanying information is limited to the original hectographic or handwritten
notes found on the reverse of each print, preserving the historical record without
interpretation or embellishment.
Rather than presenting a finished narrative, this archive invites viewers to engage
directly with the original photographs. They are historical documents that encourage
observation, reflection and discussion. By preserving and presenting these images in
their original form, albeit digitized, the archive seeks to provide an authentic visual
record of a defining period in European history.
PROVENANCE
The photographs presented on this website originate primarily from American press
archives. Additional material has been acquired from French, British and other
sources. In every case, the photographs were taken and printed between 1913 and 1946.
Despite extensive research, it has in most instances not been possible to identify the
individual photographers. Typically, the only information available is that preserved on
the original prints themselves, usually in the form of hectographic captions, agency
stamps or handwritten notes on the reverse, indicating the date, location or
circumstances in which the photographs were taken.