Wednesday, October 29, 2008

School's out




This postcard remained in my memory ever since I first saw it. We’d put it to one side with lots of other cards to look at again at a later date. The later date has come and it’s now for sale.

This is a photograph of what was left of Boulevard des Ecoles (school boulevard) in the town of Lens in the North of France. I imagine the boy in the picture is standing on what is left of his school. Lens was first bombarded in October 1914 and the town was occupied until 1918. The population of 18,000 was reduced by half. How did those people manage? Where did they go?

The town also suffered a lot of damage during world war II

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Its heart breaking to look at - to think of all the death and destruction. But then you see that spark of life as well in those left behind.

alan said...

May the terrible destruction visited upon your country and so many others through history never be seen again!

alan

Voegtli said...

It is awful to see things like that. This card witnesses something that happened quite some time ago. And, unfortunately, there will be in many years still cards showing what is happening today.

Chandira said...

Yes, I've seen photos of parts of Bristol like that, and I wish all those idiots today that are ok with war could see them!

Tawnya Shields said...

These are so sad. I always wonder about the children and animals. War is a bad time for all beings. There are never any winners. We have to be grateful that we do not live in a war torn country. This postcard sure makes me think.

Anji said...

Piscean: Children are a symbol of hope...

Alan: Amen

Peter: Mankind doesn't seem to want to learn the important lesson.

Chandira: I'm doing my little bit here. We must never forget.

Titania: I know there were ophanages set up, some by people in the US! Millions of horses were killed in battle and goodness knows how many dogs were used on the battlefield and well as pets which happened to get in the way and farm animals.

I keep coming back to this war, I wonder if i was there.

Rico said...

really nice photo, and a well written post.

http://ricocoffeeshop.blogspot.com

Anji said...

Rico: Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment.