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Background information
The out-of-print photo volume 'A World in Ruins. Vienna 1945-1948' was published on the occasion of an exhibition at the Rupertinum in Salzburg. The Austrian Magnum member not only photographed the legendary series 'Heimkehrer', but also documented the people of the city immediately after the catastrophe of the war. These photographs once opened the door to an international photography career for him in Paris and later at Life magazine in New York.
Content
In his photo book 'A World in Ruins. Vienna 1945-1948', published in two languages (German/English), Ernst HAAS tells history as a psychic collage. He shows the people and interpersonal situations in a city trying to pick itself up again. The whole is photographed in moments of great emotional density: The struggle for food, the black market, relatives of missing soldiers, as well as the deep depression in the rubble of bombed-out history. These images contrast with the optimistic awakening of the first Punch and Judy shows, soccer games, and people freshly in love at the Ringelspiel, and create an intense closeness to this little-documented part of Austria's contemporary history." (modified and adapted text, © Der Standard, 2005)