Winners of the Alfred Fried Photography Award 2016
Devoted to Life
Survivors of the Holocaust were liberated more than seventy years ago, but their traumatic experiences continue to shape their lives. Living with the past: what does this entail for the survivors and their families?
I spent many months accompanying survivors of the Holocaust and their families in Israel. Photos and stories from four generations reveal the emotional traces of a still very present past but also a regained happiness in the present, coupled with an extraordinary vitality, appreciation and devotion to life. “How can people who have experienced so much hate, give so much love?” I asked myself more than once. “Is it true that we can only feel compassion if we have suffered ourselves?” Jury statement: Can they find peace?
The young German photographer Helena Schätzle, born in 1983, granddaughter of a Wehrmacht soldier, has approached this question carefully. In Israel. Life after survival. Life after having experienced physical torture, persecution, fear, violence and terror. Traumatic experiences returning even decades later. With depression, loneliness, sorrow.
Still – Helen Schätzle has found moments of deep feelings and love, moments of intimate happiness, moments of devotion and consolation. Moments of peace. Dedicated to life. Like the people photographed by Helena Schätzle as well as the photographer. She speaks of the gift of trust. Of warmth and a heartfelt welcome. Of the old women and men who had survived the Holocaust wanting to talk. Maybe for the first time. At last.
A small, very private making of peace. And at the same time possibly the greatest one can think of.
The Jury of the Fried Awards presents Helena Schätzle with the Alfred Fried Award 2016.
Photos by Helena Schätzle
Survivors of the Holocaust were liberated more than seventy years ago, but their traumatic experiences continue to shape their lives. Living with the past: what does this entail for the survivors and their families?
I spent many months accompanying survivors of the Holocaust and their families in Israel. Photos and stories from four generations reveal the emotional traces of a still very present past but also a regained happiness in the present, coupled with an extraordinary vitality, appreciation and devotion to life. “How can people who have experienced so much hate, give so much love?” I asked myself more than once. “Is it true that we can only feel compassion if we have suffered ourselves?” Jury statement: Can they find peace?
The young German photographer Helena Schätzle, born in 1983, granddaughter of a Wehrmacht soldier, has approached this question carefully. In Israel. Life after survival. Life after having experienced physical torture, persecution, fear, violence and terror. Traumatic experiences returning even decades later. With depression, loneliness, sorrow.
Still – Helen Schätzle has found moments of deep feelings and love, moments of intimate happiness, moments of devotion and consolation. Moments of peace. Dedicated to life. Like the people photographed by Helena Schätzle as well as the photographer. She speaks of the gift of trust. Of warmth and a heartfelt welcome. Of the old women and men who had survived the Holocaust wanting to talk. Maybe for the first time. At last.
A small, very private making of peace. And at the same time possibly the greatest one can think of.
The Jury of the Fried Awards presents Helena Schätzle with the Alfred Fried Award 2016.
Photos by Helena Schätzle
