Poland 1940-1941

Poland 1940-1941 (Image 4) oil on canvas 153 x 234 cm 2015

The paintings in this series are based on photographs from an album that was found in a flea market in Frankfurt in 2013.

The album contains a handwritten inscription that reads ‘Adlou Erna’s abordnung nach Polen im Juni 1940’ (Ostoberschlesien)’. The last photograph has the date 17^th December 1941 pencilled on the back.

The photographs were taken in and around Sosnowiec, a town near the border with Germany in a part of Poland known at the time as Eastern Upper Silesia. This part of Poland was one of the first to be invaded after the outbreak of World War 2 in September 1939.

The photographs were probably taken by a group of German civil servants who had been seconded to the new territories as administrators.