INTRO
PETER HESSELBACH IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Peter Hesselbach was called back to Germany in August of 1938 during the crisis in Sudetenland. He had considerable misgivings about returning, but was swayed by the potential danger to his family if he disobeyed his draft orders and stayed in England. He arrived in Darmstadt on the eve of the Munich conference, pessimistic about the chances of a war being averted. Left with some months before his transfer orders went into effect, he used this period to spend time with his family. Max, his brother, was a member of the Hitler Youth - Peter was strongly opposed to this, as were his parents - but membership was compulsory. Peter continued to photograph during this time, using his Lieca to take snapshots around Darmstadt; at Max’s request, he also photographed many of his brother’s activities at the Youth Training Center. These simple photographs seem disarmingly poignant today, showing seemingly peaceful and innocent episodes in the life of a German provincial city; Peter seemed aware that this was an illusion - on the back of a view of Darmstadt from the Snieber he writes devastatingly “Soon this will all be gone.”
Peter Hesselbach was called back to Germany in August of 1938 during the crisis in Sudetenland. He had considerable misgivings about returning, but was swayed by the potential danger to his family if he disobeyed his draft orders and stayed in England. He arrived in Darmstadt on the eve of the Munich conference, pessimistic about the chances of a war being averted. Left with some months before his transfer orders went into effect, he used this period to spend time with his family. Max, his brother, was a member of the Hitler Youth - Peter was strongly opposed to this, as were his parents - but membership was compulsory. Peter continued to photograph during this time, using his Lieca to take snapshots around Darmstadt; at Max’s request, he also photographed many of his brother’s activities at the Youth Training Center. These simple photographs seem disarmingly poignant today, showing seemingly peaceful and innocent episodes in the life of a German provincial city; Peter seemed aware that this was an illusion - on the back of a view of Darmstadt from the Snieber he writes devastatingly “Soon this will all be gone.”
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