The essence of mourning: Photos of Paris after the attacks
Elizabeth GrenierNovember 27, 2015
Two weeks after the attacks, Paris holds a ceremony to mourn its victims. These photos by Maurice Weiss and Annette Hauschild, two photographers of the agency OSTKREUZ, capture the essence of the people's initial shock.
Image: Maurice Weiss/OSTKREUZ
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Mourning in Paris: Capturing the shock in photography
Maurice Weiss and Annette Hauschild, two photographers of the renowned agency OSTKREUZ, captured the essence of the initial shock in Paris after the attacks.
Image: Maurice Weiss/OSTKREUZ
Paris under shock
After the November 13 attacks, people gathered to pay tribute to the victims. A quarter of a century earlier, under more peaceful circumstances, seven East German photographers met in a Parisian cafe and came up with the idea of founding their own agency. They had been invited by President Mitterrand to show their works in an exhibition showcasing major East German artists.
Image: Annette Hauschild/OSTKREUZ
The day after
That meeting led to the creation of the agency OSTKREUZ, which became world-renowned. Maurice Weiss, born in France but based in Berlin, and Annette Hauschild were in Paris to open a retrospective exhibition of the agency's work for its 25th anniversary when the attacks occured. They documented the initial state of shock in the population, visible in the streets.
Image: Maurice Weiss/OSTKREUZ
Emotional breakdown
Although many people safely stayed at home trying to gather the news through Friday night, the streets became a showplace of collective emotions on Saturday. This young man burst into tears and found comfort in the arms of a friend. Even an experienced photographer like Maurice Weiss found the moment difficult to watch, saying that it's not always easy to keep an emotional distance.
Image: Maurice Weiss/OSTKREUZ
Speechless
An eerie atmosphere reigned in Paris on Saturday, November 14, the photographers said. Everyone was speechless, staring hopelessly into the distance. Documenting that state of shock was important for the two OSTKREUZ photographers. "In a way, photography is therapeutic," says Weiss.
Image: Maurice Weiss/OSTKREUZ
State of emergency
The whole country was under tension as President Hollande immediately declared a state of emergency. In this photo by Annette Hauschild, the dark silhouettes of two soldiers watch over a deserted Parisian airport.
Image: Annette Hauschild/OSTKREUZ
A multicultural meeting point
Le Carillon was one of the bars attacked by terrorists. Opened in 1975 by an Algerian, it has kept its multicultural feel ever since - the run-down look and low-priced beer making it particularly popular among young Parisians. Friends and regulars showed up the following day to pay homage to the victims. Even this journalist found it difficult to hide her emotions.
Image: Annette Hauschild/OSTKREUZ
Attack on a generation
Friday evening usually means meeting friends in a bar or going out to a cultural event for young Parisians. The attacks changed the meaning of this celebratory ritual for a whole generation. Even though this youth's naivety was killed, at least people have each other to go through the mourning and gradually return to normal life.
Image: Maurice Weiss/OSTKREUZ
Mourning rituals
Capturing the essence of difficult realities is a specialty of the photographers of the OSTKREUZ agency. Two weeks after the events, as the wax of the candles has cooled down and the initial emotions of shock have evolved into another form of sadness, Paris holds an official ceremony to mourn its victims - a symbolic step in a long collective healing process.
Image: Annette Hauschild/OSTKREUZ
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Like so many other people on that Friday night, photographers Maurice Weiss and Annette Hauschild were in Paris to celebrate. November 13 was the opening of an exhibition at the Goethe Institut in Paris showcasing 25 years of works by the members of the renowned German photo agency OSTKREUZ.
The idea of founding an agency to promote the works of East German photographers had actually emerged in Paris a quarter of a century earlier, as they were invited in 1990 by President Mitterrand to show their works in the French capital during an exhibition on GDR artists.
Ostkreuz is the name of a train station in the eastern part of Berlin where different railways converge. The name offered an interesting symbol for this group of photographers: this intersection located in their part of newly unified Germany could lead them to head in all directions.
From the forced evacuations of squatted houses in East Berlin after the fall of the Wall to the Arab Spring, or from heavy metal youth culture to the International Court of Justice, OSTKREUZ photographers have specialized in capturing the essence of hot social topics.
Today, the agency is world-renowned. It has 20 members aged between 30 and 65, coming not only from former East Germany but all over Europe, and these photographers have won several national and international distinctions.
