16 Photographs At Ohrdruf

A Liberation

In 1991, my grandfather died. Among his possessions was a small packet of photographs taken at the liberation of Ohrdruf Concentration Camp, the first camp liberated by the Allies. For over a decade after his death there was a quiet but painful struggle in my family to figure out what to do with the photographs, which culminated in my sister and I breaking into a locked chest to make copies in case they were destroyed. That was the only time I ever saw the original pictures.

During the 2008 election, Barack Obama caused a scandal that ultimately revealed that his Great-Uncle was also a liberator at Ohrdruf. I realized when I read Obama's story that many families had stories similar to my own -- and that many children and grandchildren were struggling to understand the lives of those that went off to war.

"16 Photographs At Ohrdruf" begins as an attempt to understand my grandfather's photographs, but expands to encompass the Holocaust, the origins of genocide, the making of Post-War America, the psychology of trauma, and a secret history revealed by the election of President Obama. It is the story of one grandson trying to understand his family, but that singular attempt opens up the stories of thousands of others.

This project is currently in post-production. More about Matthew Nash.

More film, intervention and multimedia projects by Harvey Loves Harvey and 454 Productions.