JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post Aside from the strong impact
that this 1918 image [the original available at our blog
bookstore, here] makes, the enormous mounds of clothing of
captured German solders that were routinely handled as part of
their processing, it struck a deeper chord to an older image
still (that we'll see below). The photograph seems threatening
to me, even though the action taking place in it wasn't, it was
mundane--the men, who I believe are German POW's, are processing
the clothing for disinfection and cleaning. But the size of the
mound reminds us of the magnitude of the numbers of the dozens
of millions who were killed during WWI, as well as the millions
who were taken prisoner. What remains to be said about this
image is how often that pile of clothing was replaced: is it a
monthly, or weekly, or daily pile? My guess is that it was more
daily than anything else, if for no other reason than there is
an enormous oil lamp in the background of the photo, suggesting
that the process went on