Words and pictures by Tavis Bohlinger. Shot on Hasselblad.
Warsaw is one of the beautifully melancholy cities I have ever visited. This past summer, the European Association of Biblical Studies was held at the University of Warsaw. The papers were mostly excellent, and the venue was exceptional, but the city itself was glorious. I took my camera along and when not chairing my seminar, headed into the city.
In the photoessay below, I’ve tried to capture a sense of that glory, the sense of a city reborn from the ashes of Communism, its residents now alive and breathing again even as they are surrounded by, and still work and dwell within, the same morose buildings whose architectural features yet whisper the echoes of tyranny. Note well the contrast between the Old City structures and building details and the stark modernity erected around it.
Hope to see you next summer in Wupperthal!
Sign up to theLAB and never miss another conference photoessay or our other great articles!
Although I appreciated the beauty and creativity of your photo essay, I was quite disappointed to notice the absence of any obvious connection of the photographs to the horrors of the Warsaw Ghetto. The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of the ghettoes created to sequester, starve and murder thousands of Jews packed into the ghetto, only to await their transport to the extermination camps within Poland. The most infamous, being Auschwitz/Bergen Belsen and Treblinka. Warsaw was the setting of the largest Jewish revolt against the Nazis. It was lead by Mordechai Anilewicz and the history of the ghetto is one of heroism and the human acts of courage. A small group of men and women held off the Nazis, committed to destroying the ghetto and all within. Although all the freedom fighters were ultimately murdered, Warsaw stands as a true reminder of what happens when evil is allowed to fester and take over entire societies.
Dear Edward, I greatly appreciate your feedback. I too wish that I could have visited the Warsaw Ghetto and other places where atrocities were committed. The reason why these are not included in the photoessay is due to one simple reason: I did not have the time. I spent my days at the conference, ducking out here and there to get some images, and then back to work. I do, however, plan to return to Warsaw soon as I can, for I know that there is much of the city that I missed on this first trip.