«Why war?»

1945

      In 1945, on one of Berlin’s streets, I saw two emaciated and poorly dressed elderly men. They were sitting near a destroyed building on some sort of box. One of them had a blind man’s armband on his sleeve, and the other turned out to be his guide.

      I was walking by and took a photograph. The guide smiled at the photographer [sic], and the blind man asked, “What is happening?” His sighted companion explained that they were being photographed. Then came the question, “Why?”

      I stopped and started talking to them. “Who are you?” – “We don’t know.” – “Where did you come from?” – “We do not remember.” These people had lost everything they had during the war, including their homes and families. They just met somewhere on the road, started walking together, supported each other, and survived as best as they could.

      “We do not know where and why we are going,” said the blind man, “we do not know why we continue to live – we do not know why this war?”.