"From war to war" (temporary photo exhibition) - Liège (Belgium)

by Luc MARY RABINE
- with support of French-speaking Community of Belgium, Walloon Region, Liège Province and the city of Liège -

Important note

Photos provided on this website are not an endorsement of any political idea or of war. War is one of the most regrettable human activities.

All photos on this page are copyright Robert Mary and may only be reproduced with my express permission. You may contact me here.

More information is available here, where a PDF document (in French) is downloadable. This document presents:

a) a summary of WWI and WWII;
b) information on concentration and extermination camps organisation;
c) esthetical and historical comments of some photos of the exhibition (see below);
d) a lexicon about WWI and WWII.

Photos with detailed explanations in the document are the following:

1. Dixmude, le boyau de la mort, 15/05/2004 (Battle of the Yser 1914 Belgium)

2. Connaught Cemetery, 22/04/2004 near Thiepval, the cemetery counts 1.286 Commonwealth soldiers (Anglo-French offensive in "La Somme" 1916)

3-4. Tranchées, forêt d’Argonne, 13/08/2004 / Sape, forêt d’Argonne, 13/08/2004

5-6. Paris, square Boucicaut 21/10/2001 - Westende, 28/03/1999 (Westende blokhaus being part part of "Atlantik Wall")

7. Omaha Beach, 03/04/2004 (Overlord 6/06/1944)

8. Sobibor, 14/09/2003 (Extermination camp near Lublin - Poland)

9-10-11. Auschwitz I, 04/03/2001 - Auschwitz II-Birkenau, mirador et bouleaux, 17/04/2002 - Lodz, graffiti antisémite, 19/04/2002 (Auchwitz extermination camp near Cracow - Poland / Ghetto of Lodtz 1940 - Poland)

12. Venise, 05/10/2003 (flag "no more war" by Italians against 2003 Gulf war)

Historical information

The following text is belonging to his author: Luc MARY RABINE.

"From war to war" is about remembrances, stories told by members of my family, those "men of war". I hate war, military marches and noise of weapons.
War is never fresh and joyful -unlike what Generals might say-. War is about to kill or to get killed, nothing less.

"Sirs Englishmen, shoot first" has been replaced by massive destruction weapons. Yperite gas and Zyklon B. In the Bloodbath of Flanders, Somme and Verdun,
the contempt of human life, which paves the way for deathcamps.

Through their lives, their wars, their wounds, I have discovered a wider perspective. It's time to turn the page -even a bloody one- : enough memory, let's open place for history.

Location information

The photo exhibition is located in the cultural centre of named "Les Chiroux" in the centre of Liège at 8 Place des Carmes.

The exhibition is open from 20/04 to 16/05/2007, entrance is free.

Personal note

People are wrong to distinguish WWI from WWII that's the same war, That's the 30 years war, That's the "hundred years" war.

From war to war is the last chapter of a trilogy.

"Un monde disparaît" (a fading world just after WWI), was about the memory of a town (the coalmines of Liège, the social and trade union links with the city).
"Si je t’oublie" (If I forget you) was about the remnants of camps: absence and silence.

Both previous themes as well as this latest one were subject to the release of specific books including a photo album.

"From war to war" is not only a book but also a DVD showing the author's personal quest walking on the battlefields and in WWI (and WWII) cemeteries seeking after the past of his grandfather -and his numerous brothers in arms-, who was also mine. The author is indeed my cousin but also my godfather.

Some photos here are showing the WWI Commonwealth cemetery of Berks. The cemetery contains 83 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and four German war graves.
More information on this specific cemetery is available here.