Ewa Faryaszewska
Today is the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, also known as Victory Day. On this day, the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces marked the official surrender of all German military operations. World War II (1939–1945) was a global conflict during which between 70 and 85 million people died, which was about 3–4% of the world’s population at the time. This includes both military and civilian casualties.
We think it is incredibly important to remind everyone of this war now. Today, we present a color photo taken in 1944 by Ewa Faryaszewska, a Polish painter and photographer who was a soldier in the Home Army (the main resistance movement in German-occupied Poland) and the author of color photographs from the Warsaw Uprising.
Faryaszewska served as a liaison officer during the Warsaw Uprising and worked in a department responsible for rescuing national cultural heritage in the Old and New Town areas while also documenting the destruction through photography. She died from wounds on August 28, 1944, when she was 24 years old.
In her photos, we can see what the hell of war looks like. This place is the main market of the Warsaw Old Town, which was completely destroyed (along with 85% of the city). We see no people (c. 200,000 inhabitants in Warsaw died in 1944). In the middle of it, we can see an unexploded ordnance. It is just a desert full of ruins.
P.S. Wars bring destruction not only to the cities but also to art collections. Read about the 10 most important masterpieces lost during World War II. And here is the "artist Schindler’s list," the story how Varian Fry rescued artists from burning Europe.