Nazi Soldier in the Russian Village

Asmus Remmer was a German photographer who specialized in portraiture, genre and landscape photography. He had his own photo studio and lab. In the period from 1940-1945 he was an infantry soldier of Wehrmacht. In May 1945 he found himself in the American POW camp which he left in autumn of the same year.

Asmus wrote he was left at the railway station in Pavlinovo, Kaluga region of Russia. At the sunrise they could see the first Russian village. The houses were covered with snow. A Russian woman at the well and pink smoke of chimneys – he felt as if reading the Bible, and he exclaimed: “Is this the place where we wage war?” He felt sick at that moment and other soldiers brought him into the wooden house.

When he awoke, he saw A Russian girl standing on her knees in front of him and giving him a teaspoon with hot milk and honey. He told her: “I could kill your husband but you still worry about me.”

Soon he saw more Russian villages and understood that they had to make peace with Russians as soon as possible. It can be seen on his photos that Russians didn’t pay attention to his military uniform and were rather friendly. They overcame more than a thousand of kilometers deep into the Russian Empire and he kept thinking all the time in what condition this country would be when they leave.

All the pictures were taken in the Kaluga region in 1942-43.

Photos of Asmus Remmer were shown at the photo exhibitions in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod in 2003.





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