Die andere Front. Österreichische Kriegsfotographie und Propaganda im Ersten Weltkrieg.

In World War I, photography was used for the first time extensively as propaganda material. The book is based on the analysis of the photographic collection of over 33.000 war photographs (original lantern-slide negatives and prints) at the picture archive of the Austrian National Library in Vienna. This pool of photos from World War I is unique because of its richness and the extremely well preserved conditions of its photos. The majority of photos (almost of them unpublished) depict Eastern and South-Eastern European war settings. The book brings light into the lives of war photographers: what conditions contributed to deciding on such a career? What were their everyday lives during the war like? Professional photographers were officially commissioned by the imperial and royal war press bureau for executing this photo propaganda. Amateur photographers were also increasingly employed in the propaganda in the second half of the war. Finally, the propagandistic use of the photographs ist examined. The bulk of the Austrian photographic material was commissioned by the imperial and royal war press bureau and was systematically used as a propaganda instrument. The censored photos were distributed to domestic and international press, displayed in exhibitions and hung as posters. By studying the pictures in their historical context and by comparing written documents with images, it is possible to reconstruct the media war in detail. Biographics of almost all official war photographers are compiled. The book cleares the historical background of Austrian-Hungarian war photography. Not just the use of war photographs during times of war: the remembrance through images after war also is part of this analysis. Clearly, the use of visual media increased and profoundly changed during the war. War photography had a strong impact on the development of illustrated newspapers. Their development toward modern froms of photo-reportage began during the war. After World War I, illustrated newspapers took on a new outlook. They became timely and modern. This is due to the consequences of the media war in World War I.