War Photography in World War I

This research work deals with those war photographs from World War I, stored in public Austrian archives, which have almost not been explored up to now. The photographs stored in the photograph archive of the Austrian National Library are very important in this context, since it is this library which, by indirect means, has become the successor of the former war information office. During World War I, the mentioned war information office dealt with collecting, screening, evaluating, censoring and using war photographs. Nowadays, this collection comprises more than 33.000 photographs. These photographs are important since they represent one of the largest (and completely unexplored) existing collections concerning official and private photographs of World War I. This applies not only to Austria, but to Europe as well. Furthermore, these photograph collections of World War I represent an excellent source to show the way of thinking of the war, of the Austrian history and contemporary history. In this scheme, World War I photographs will not be considered in an isolated way, but will allow for the temporal circumstances. First of all, the photographs` analysis wants to throw light upon the political and social conditions and the political background decisive at the moment when the photograph documents were made. In this perspective, it sometimes is difficult to distinguish the context of the photographs produced. The question is whether these pictures were privately taken or according to official instructions, for instance by photographic commentators. Were the pictures taken for propaganda campaigns or were they photographs of reconnaissance or secret service? Do the pictures come from the "own" people or were they taken away from enemy soldiers? Were the privately taken pictures collected already during the war (voluntarily by appeal to the public or by coercive means of censorship) or only after the war? Were these photographs published or were they meant for being kept under lock and key? The question is whether they are arranged in series (for instance albums of remembrance) or individual loose-leave inventories. As far as these photographs are considered as war documents, they may be interpreted only in their national context. That is why it is necessary to compare the Austrian picture documents with other photographs from various countries. Yet there should not only be the motive of comparing World War I photographs of different countries. In addition, the social significance of these pictures may be understood and evaluated only when the period following the war is examined as well. It will be demonstrated that the impact and adoption of many official and private pictures were not restricted to the period immediately following the war only, but that these photographs have fundamentally moulded during a long time the view of history of the post-war period.

In World War I, photography was used for the first time extensively as propaganda material. Besides the written word, pictures mainly demonstrated the power of one side`s forces over anothers and concealed its weaknesses. The project`s aim was to analyse 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 condition of its photos. The project leader used photo-historic methods in his research - a method which focuses on the photographic material rather than the much more common text-centred approach. The majority of photos depict Eastern and South-Eastern European war settings. The first step was to gather as much information as possible on each picture: information on the photographer, the region, the topic and the historical background. In addition, comparative studies in Eastern and South-Eastern European archives were undertaken. From these sources important additional material could be gathered. The focus of the project did not stopped at analysing the photos but it pushed further, seeking to find out more about 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 was 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 became possible to reconstruct the media war in detail. Biographies of almost all official war photographers could be compiled. A further step in the project`s development was to clear 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 formed part of the 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 forms 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.