Jesse Spielman

In 2023, my family contacted the city #archive of #Kassel #Germany to let them know about some photos we found amongst the things of my great uncle, Milton, when he passed away. Milton was stationed in Kassel after WWII as part of a group of US Army soldiers tasked with helping to reestablish government after the war.

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Mar 13 at 12:49pmWeb
Show threadJesse SpielmanMar 13

While in Kassel, Milton acquired a collection of undated postcard images of many of the city's culturally significant buildings, monuments and streets from before the war. With what was probably a rudimentary #camera he then proceeded to take photographs of the exact same locations from similar camera angles, showcasing the damage and destruction caused by the war in a very literal way.

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Show threadJesse SpielmanMar 13

When Milton passed, we found these photographic pairs mounted on a board and scanned them at high quality. It occurred to us that the city of Kassel might be interested in having these pairs (33 in total).

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Show threadJesse SpielmanMar 13

Sadly, the city archive did not respond to our message which I assumed at the time was just some sort of bureaucratic screw-up since the photos were obviously so interesting. The message sat in my inbox until a few days ago until I decided to just bump the e-mail, essentially 3 years later. And I was very happily surprised when someone from the archive replied, (apologized for missing the original message), and expressed some interest in the photos!

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Show threadJesse SpielmanMar 13

I hope that these direct before-and-after images of the power and horror of war can help avert future horror. Here are 4 of the images; I think they're just incredible.

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#wwII #history #beforeandafter

Show threadJesse Spielman1d ago

Update! My contact at the archive replied in more detail and is interested in the photos! She says they'd fit in well with the collection there. She's asking if she can have the originals but I'm a bit wary of that. Might see if I can convince them to take high rez scans. Not sure if my family's consumer scanner is good enough though 😕

Any #digitalarchivists about with suggestions?

Show threadRejin1d ago
@heavyimage Not a digital archivist, but if your scanner can do 600dpi that should be quite good. Or see if a local library or other institution offers scanner access or digitization.
Show threadJesse Spielman1d ago
@rejinl I know I had my mom scan at the highest quality; can't remember if this was >= 600 DPI. I'll check!
Show threadStefan IhringerMar 13
@heavyimage Wow, very cool. And thanks for saving those photos even though Kassel didn’t reply at first.
It would be interesting to see what especially the street looks like today. After WW2 many cities removed the ruined buildings instead of reconstructing them. They built eyesores made of concrete (which in the 50s of course were deemed futuristic and modern) and widened the streets for automobiles.
Show threadJesse SpielmanMar 13
@compfu Yeah, I actually mentioned this question in my original letter to the archive. If they were ever presented, it would be very cool to add a third, modern perspective.
Show threadDB SchweinMar 13

@heavyimage @compfu

I'm so glad you reached out again! Likely your first attempt just hit on a busy day and was back burnered and then forgotten entirely.

Very cool thing for your Uncle to have done!

Show threadEd SoldatMar 14
@heavyimage @compfu That's a striking record and one that I'm sure many folk with a link to Kassel will appreciate (my own family's home cities in Germany were almost entirely destroyed, and I rely largely on archive pictures like these to get a sense of the places they knew).
Show threadJesse SpielmanMar 14
@edsoldat @compfu thanks! I’m so excited they wrote back to me. I’ll let everyone know what happens.