DeptName
Art

IDNO
IWM ART LD 5750

ProductionDate
1945

ProductionPeriod
Second World War

ItemName
Waiting for the Train on the Anhalter Bahnhof, Berlin. December 1945

ObjectType
drawing

IndexConcepts
refugees
children
civilian suffering
railways
transport

IndexHistPeriod
Second World War

FullSummary
Mary Kessell was sent to Germany in August 1945 to record the plight of the millions of refugees moving through Europe in the aftermath of the German surrender. She was one of only three women artists who were sent abroad, albeit at the very end of the war. The following extract is from her diary:
"Berlin Tuesday 10 September 1945
The afternoon at the railway station Berlin. Shall I ever forget them? I saw not a single train come in – or leave. . . The scenes were quite the worst I’ve witnessed. Like Goya come to life. People sitting & lolling & sleeping – waiting for the trains that might come today or perhaps come tomorrow. Filthy, lousy, abject bundles of humanity. Utterly apathetic – just bundles. I had to tell myself that God loved them & cared where they got to – till the tears poured down my face. German soldiers – home with nothing on their feet, filthy clothes – unshaven – stinking – limbless bundles with great eyes . . .Remember for ever those things that war has made – I felt so ashamed standing there in my uniform & clean shoes, saying ‘no’ when I was asked for a cigarette. And the baby who cried for an hour until I removed some of the luggage from its pram".

ContextDescription
image: a group of three women and two children sit and stand beside a large bundle of possessions.

Format
charcoal

Support
paper

Dimensions
488 mm
618 mm

CopyrightStatus
IWM reproduction right

MakerName
Kessell, Mary

ProductionCountry
Germany

AcquisitionMethod
transfer

AcquisitionNote
War Artists Advisory Committee Commission, 1945

AcquisitionDate
1947

RelatedImageFile
Transfer0045/IWM_ART_LD_005750.jpg

SubThemeTag
OccupationAndResistance

UncatTransferDate
20/01/2009 05:51:56

URLEncodedDeptName
Art

FormatDescription
drawing

AuthorityLink
Kessell, Mary

IndexPlace
Berlin, Berlin, Germany

IndexPlaceDetail
Anhalter Bahnhof, Berlin

IndexEvent
Defeat of Germany 1945, Second World War

Theme
Refugees
German Home Front 1939-1945

CoLStatus
Ready

DigitalAsset
Y

IWMImageOwned
Y