"Netherlands East Indies, Visit to a Village". Soldier's handmade photograph album.
June 1945. A charming handmade photographic travel diary documenting a WWII US soldier's visit to an Indonesian village when it was still a Dutch colony, and showing heartfelt empathy for the villagers' war time suffering. Illustrated with original snap shot photographs on each of the 18 pages, accompanied by hand written text below. Unfortunately neither the soldier nor his subjects, who he clearly had a great deal of sympathy for, are named.
Possibly produced for the author's family back home, the unidentified author makes a sympathetic account: "This is the beginning, beyond that farthest point of land, and beyond that yet is our destination. From here on we take to the water for that long ride up the coast in a dukw, pronounced duck. Here we are now, almost there. In the distance you can see a crowd of people on the shore. They all love the visitors... The war has hit the natives too. Thousands are homeless. Every village has a refugee camp to care for some of these. Then there are those who have met the full force of the war and now lie buried in cemeteries ..."
Most of the images are of natives and village life, village homes and village children and reveal the empathy of the soldier photographer. 4 x 5", 18pp, on one side only, a picture set in at each page with text below. Cord bound cream paper, text hand lettered in pen; a few little marks on the covers otherwise very good. Very good condition. Item #23695
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