In the Netherlands, the first World War (of the Great War, 1914-1918) is rather unknown. After all, the Netherlands took no side during World War I. Of course, the history books in secondary schools recount the “foreplay” which would eventually form an important introduction to that Second, all-embracing war. Hardly any information can be found on the horrors of WWI, the useless trench war which finally led to the death of approximately seven million people.

This will only get through to you when you arrive at the “frontline” area. The countless war cemetaries, the villages and cities that were razed to the ground during these years, and the deep marks in the landscape. Only then, the misery that has taken place during four years, becomes slightly more visible.

A selection of this series of photographs, which consists of hundreds of pictures, illustrates the scars of war in the neighbourhood of Ieper and Verdun. Many bomb craters, bunkers, monuments and cemetaries leave ineffaceable marks in the landscape.

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