Ecce Homo

BEHOLD THE MAN (1988)

An exceptional exhibition at the Malegijs regional centre (Streekhuis Malegijs) in Kemmel, from 1 October to 15 November 1988. Exceptional because of the important works of art on loan, by Frank Brangwyn (Municipal Museums, Bruges), Albert Hahn (Dutch Press Museum, Amsterdam), Käthe Kollwitz (Belgium–GDR Association, Brussels), Frans Masereel (private collection), Camiel Van Breedam (Aarselaar) and Albert Castelain (Ypres), and of photographs by Maurice and Robert Antony (Antony family), the Imperial War Museum, London, and the Bundesarchiv, Koblenz. Exceptional because of the large team that took part (their names are listed at the bottom), led by Piet Chielens, Marieke Demeester and Jan Hardeman.

Exceptional because of its attention to ordinary people, men and women in wartime.

At the entrance to the exhibition hung four photographs: French soldiers in a meadow at Zillebeke, waiting for the signal to attack. British soldiers at Poperinge station, waving their leave passes. German prisoners of war in a meadow at Loker. A Chinese labour brigade at Reningelst, ready to clear rubble. What is going through the mind of each of them?

"Ecce Homo": Pilate's words about Christ were chosen by Albert Hahn (1877–1918) as the title of one of his war drawings. The text was placed with the drawing in the four languages of the soldiers who fought and died on the Yser: "Aanschouwt de mens", "Voici l'homme", "Seht den Menschen", "Behold the man". Hahn's sharp drawings cry out his loathing of war.

His drawing "The Sower" could also be seen in the exhibition. Besides works by the Dutchman Albert Hahn, there are works by the Briton Frank Brangwyn (1867–1956), by Frans Masereel (1889–1972) and by Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945), known for her "grieving parents" at the soldiers' cemetery in Vladslo.

In the various rooms hang photographs showing the horror of that war. Two photographs by the brothers Maurice and Robert Antony received special attention: the Cloth Hall of Ypres before and after the war.

Poems by Ezra Pound, Wilfrid Gibson, Rudyard Kipling, Guillaume Apollinaire and Paul van Ostaijen are also on display.

In one of the rooms the exhibition presents the Way of the Cross of those who went and of those who stayed at home, united in the same immense suffering. The water, digging your own grave, the barbed wire, rats, mud --- you get used to everything; brainwashing, optical illusion. "We were near Diksmuide. There were a lot of rats in the trenches there. One morning there was a rat that kept jumping back and forth along the loopholes. The Germans shot and it fell dead in our trench. We had a man from Oostkamp who was superb at throwing hand grenades: he could throw a good ten metres further than we could. He threw the rat back. Soon afterwards it was there again. It went back and forth like that a good ten times. Suddenly that boy said: 'Let's give them a different rat for once!' And he threw a grenade. That's when it started… From grenades it became bombs. And at the end of the game we had nine dead." Jules Leroy

The exhibition pays special attention to the many refugees. Drawings by Frans Masereel, from Aarschot (August 1914) and from Ghent; a photograph by Maurice Antony of the last refugees leaving Ypres on 28 April 1915: an old woman struggles with her load on a heavy wheelbarrow. Texts by witnesses from the region: "Fleeing is queer, you don't know where you're going and you don't know where you should go" Camille Boudry. "When you hear shooting, you want to get away. I fled at the first shot we heard. Hid in the brambles. I was fourteen" Maurits Liefooghe. "In Reningelst, everything was full of refugees. In all those little houses, people from Messines, Wijtschate, Kemmel, Wasten, Hollebeke. Everyone who knew someone here, or thought they did, came. We thought it would only last a fortnight. Everything that was a hovel or a stable was full" Georges Deconinck

Frans Masereel was one of the best witnesses of his time. In his work he takes a stand: against war, for humankind.

These are the names of the many volunteers who worked on this exhibition: from Abele (Rik Declercq), Anderlecht (Chris Geysens), Bissegem (Jacques Brion), Bruges (Christiane Delrue), Diksmuide (Koen Baert), Dranouter (Lieven Desramaults), Ghent (John Beauval, Monique Tahon), Hollebeke (Rudy Welvaert), Ypres (Renaat Acke, Jan Breyne, Albert Castelein, Guido Dael, Paul Dael, Bart Seys, Jean-Luc Vanhove, Kristien Zwaenepoel), Kemmel (Adriaan Aloy, Luc Bossaert, Noël Bril, Lucien Declerck, Hilda Delva, Henri Devos, Jan Devos, Roland Devos, Markus Himbert, Marcel Hoorelbeke, Maddy Lauwers, Bernard Leupe, Firma Richet, Norbert Supply, Ivan Vandenburie, Bart Vandeputte, Paul Vandeputte, Goedele Vandesteene, Hendrik Vanhooreweghe, Willy Vercruysse, Carl Verlinde), Koekelare (Raf Seys), Kortrijk (Johan Sergyssels), Loker (Joost Denuwelaere, Eric Truant), Messines (Véronique Flamand, Albert Vandecasteele), Poperinge (Monique Buseyne, Johan Gerber, Bertin Noppe), Reningelst (Marijke Allemeersch, Carmen Gruwez), Voormezele (Edouard Fierens), Westouter (Piet Delhaye, Mark Derycke, Frie Hardeman, Geert Hardeman), Wijtschate (Jenny Dalle) and Zillebeke (José Ghekiere).