Entering Germany : 1944-1949

For the first time, Tony Vaccaro's photos documenting World War II and its aftermath in Germany are presented together in one book. Vaccaro's story is unique: he was born in Pennsylvania, USA of Italian parents but spent most of his childhood under the fascist regime in Italy. He returned to the United States to finish high school, where he developed a passion for photography. Drafted into the army in 1944, Vaccaro was forced to return to Europe. He went armed with a gun and a camera. He came back, in 1949, with one of the most comprehensive photographic diaries by a serviceman in any war. Vaccaro's relationship with photography was never casual. It was with great vigor that he studied photography during high school (the techniques he carefully memorized would later help him to mix chemicals on the battlefield and develop film in army helmets) and his early enthusiasm continued even when he was in danger of losing his life to Hitler's army. This new book presents Vaccaro's most impressive images (including the famous "White Death" depicting a dead soldier nearly covered with snow), tracing his journey from the invasion in Normandy to the battles eastward past the Elbe river in Germany, through the aftermath of the war up until 1949. Vaccaro's fascinating autobiographical text, written specifically for this publication, gives important clues to his point of view as a photographer. His goal was to make a record of the war and the subsequent rebuilding of war-torn Germany so that future generations could see what it had been like, but his images are more than documentary photographs; they are a stunning visual diary of one man's experience of war and its disastrous effects.