quarta-feira, 4 de junho de 2008

Two Luxembourgers who helped shape the face of Europe

I am going to talk to you about two Luxembourgers men that are no longer with us today, but whom I came across during my scarce two months of living in Luxembourg. I like to think of these men as sons of a peace searching country. An old European country, a hybrid country where French, German and English is valid and even Portuguese has to be considered…

The first is Robert Schuman - the father of Europe. Schuman fought, or better, worked hard on the unification of Europe. He was a pioneer; he had an idea in which he believed in. He searched a way of keeping the peace in the countries of his parents and grandparents. (If you check his biography there is a miscellaneous family of "German", "French" and "Luxemburgers".)
I connected these thoughts on Schuman to another image, which was given to me by a colleague at work. On the 30th of April (I remember because it is Julia's birthday), I had a 'Welcome meeting for newcomers to Eurostat '. This session turned out to be an interesting talk with a veteran (Adviser to Director-General) of Eurostat: Klaus REEH. He has been working in Eurostat since the 70's and gave us a very interesting insight on the history and the functioning of the Institution. Klaus enlightened us, on the topic of the meaning the European Union, with this personal observation:
He lives in Germany near the border with Luxembourg. From his house he can see the Moselle River (that is part of the border), and a bridge that crosses it. When he sees this landscape it reminds him of a picture of his father: sitting on a horse, near the Moselle River, beside a bridge, dressed in his military suit during World War II.
There it was, just in front of me: the war. Not in some school book or documentary, or encyclopaedia just there in the flesh and bone – it existed and now there is peace. I think it is important to recognize the war in order to appreciate the peace.
Let me add a third image, and this one a can actually show you:


These pictures where taken on military cemeteries, here in Luxembourg, the American and the German Cemeteries. The silence of the graveyards will explain the rest…
The other man I wanted to talk about is Edward Steichen - the photographer. He didn't live in Luxembourg for a long time, but this country is an important place at the beginning and the end of his life. His technical knowledge related with photography put him in a vanguard position in what concerned aerial photography for military purposes. I imagine that the images that he saw and captured from the sky, germinated in his memory and in his spirit. Seeing the earth from the sky! The astonishment of nature and destruction were at his feet. The exhibition we visited "The Family of Man" (see earlier post), is one of Steichen's major projects. This group of about half a thousand photographs, collected and selected by him, demonstrate his altruistic and elevated perspective of the world and of humanity.
These are the type of values that I pursue, and I like to think that they have good environmental conditions to grow here in Luxembourg. These are two of his photos. Notice the little girl with the cat, she looks like Júlia!

















Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face - the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited; and the wealth and confusion that man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man. - Edward Steichen - In "Time," 7 Apr 1961.

Once you really commence to see things, then you really commence to feel things. - Edward Steichen

1 comentário:

hera disse...

and I must say... the cat looks like one of ours!