Travel

After the War

Travelling across Europe, Werner Bischof captures the aftermath of World War II with his book 'After the War'

Werner Bischof

Werner Bischof | After the War Penguins from the zoo taking their weekly walk. The director of the zoo walks them through the city every week in order to attract people to the zoo. Edinburgh, Scotland. 1950. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War A man walks through the destroyed city looking for food. Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. 1945. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War A figure stands in silhouette at a circus. Hungary. 1947. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War A woman holds her child in front of a graffitied wall. Warsaw, Poland. 1948. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War Peloponnese region, Greece. 1947. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War 'Heroes of Yesterday'. Budapest, Hungary. 1947. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War A man stands with a shovel by the flooded Theiss river. Hungary. 1947. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War A train careens through the countryside. Corinth, Greece. 1946. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War A crowd of people and a gang of turkeys gather. Athens, Greece. 1946. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War An elderly woman holds a child. Naples, Italy. 1946. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War A woman fills urns with water while kids play in the street. Genoa, Italy. 1946. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War Traffic control for the Allies in front of the Duomo. Milan, Italy. 1946. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War Displaced people wait for transport. Berlin, Germany. 1946. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War A cross stands on the ruins of a house, indicating that a person was killed on this site. Freiburg I'm Breisgau, Germany. 1945. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War The razed village of Saint Dié, France. 1945. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos
Werner Bischof | After the War Children play amongst the ruins. Freiburg I'm Brisgau, Germany. 1945. © Werner Bischof | Magnum Photos

In 1945, already known as a photographer of refined images verging on the abstract, Werner Bischof made his way by bicycle through war-torn Germany, documenting signs of human life emerging from the rubble. In luminous images – of little girls playing in the shell of a bombed cathedral, of a young man luxuriating in the sun smoking a cigar – Bischof captured the struggles of ordinary people incrementally resuming their daily lives in a devastated landscape.

Two years later, his travels having extended through France, Hungary, Greece, and Italy, Bischof had created an extraordinary portrait of a continent’s slow, anguished rebirth. As the war recedes, tentative early-morning light softening the ruins becomes afternoon flare on walls covered with movie posters. Single figure amid the devastation multiply into confident crowds in downtown squares. Ranging from the farmhouses of Poland and Greece to the burgeoning industrial cities of Italy, the photographs emanate hope and reveal battle-scarred civilians enjoying the small freedoms afforded by peace.

 Text from the back cover of After the War, published by Motta Editore, 1997.

Stay in touch
Learn about online and offline exhibitions, photography fairs, gallery events, plus fine print news and activities, on a monthly basis.
Get fortnightly tips and advice articles, find out about the latest workshops, free online events and on-demand courses.
Stay up to date every Thursday with Magnum photographers’ activities, new work, stories published on the Magnum website, and the latest offerings from our shop.