These pictures were taken near Nachod, in the Czech Republic right at the border with Poland. They show one of many fortresses that were built in the 1930s at the border with then Germany, in preparation for an expected invasion. However, the invasion never came since with the Munich Agreement, Great Britain and France ceded parts of the Czech territory to Germany as part of the "policy of appeasement." So the fortresses suddenly found themselves in the middle of Germany, without much use to the Czech. The rest is history.
These fortresses have been sitting around for the past 60 years without much attention. One of them has been restored to original look, but I chose to photograph the unmaintained version as I felt it better conveyed the mood.
Excellent, Stan. Moody, a set of images evoking something which now feels completely absurd, but which felt very real and threatening few generations back. An interesting view also at how these things threatened the close environment when they were built, and how now the environment has almost swallowed them.
In Switzerland we still have plenty of these antitank concrete structures, as well as bunkers all over the country. They were built also in anticipation of something which never materialized. The antitank things here are somewhat differen-looking and were nicknamed toblerones, because of the famous chocolate bars which share the same shape. No one knows for sure which of the two was invented first. As for bunkers, there are so many underground (with hundreds of km of tunnels) that the country has been compared to Gruyère cheese...
santiago
An absurd concept now , perhaps , but they still have a sinister air about them . As others have said , that thick mist is an essential accompaniment to these relics of the past . Lost in the fog of history .....
A poor and bruised prostitute, just a girl, dressed in a thin worn spring dress, sitting wretched, alone on a park bench in the morning fog, is less wretched, even noble, after this.
Europe has no memory. The Euro and disco and cell phones make this picture have no meaning. Europe has refugees but no memory. Europe has money, but no memory.
We whored a whole country to Hitler, and no one knows!
These pictures are important to me and should be to everyone.
Self sacrifice is one thing, sacrificing a young girl who claims your protection, is a shame for which no forgiveness is possible.
the last picture really hits home. it's as if the picture brings us back into time and you can see and hear soldiers, and commoners talk. a powerful image that brings sadness.
Shamefull act maybe, but bought time. I am old enough to remember. People older than me fought and remembered the war before,WW1 and did not relish the prospect of another war so soon. As far as the UK is concerned we were not prepared for the 2nd ww. and who knows what might have happened if the 2nd world war had started sooner. I remember how quick the Natzis over run the low countrys in May 1940, and as a school boy being terrified at the fall of France and Dunkirk, and facing Germany alone.
Easy to criticize our forebears after the event.
Pictures do have a haunting quality due to the mist
