Ernst Friedrich War against War

**Ernst Friedrich, Krieg dem Kriege! Guerre a la Guerre! War against War! Oorlog aan den Oorlog! (1924)**

[Created: 22 July, 2014]
[Updated: 17 January, 2017 ]

Source

Ernst Friedrich, Krieg dem Kriege! Guerre a la Guerre! War against War! Oorlog aan den Oorlog! (Berlin: "Freie Jugend", (1924).

Ernst Friedrich, War against War! Introduction by Douglas Kellner (Seattle: The Real Comet Press, 1987).

I have not been able to find any copies of the first edition. This collection of images was culled from online sources and compared with my copy of the 1987 reprint. There are differences as this later edition is possibly a one volume compilation of a selecrion of images from the larger two volume original edition. I have included the caption and page number of the photograph wherever I have located it in my 1987 edition of the book.

Often Friedrich liked to contrast two photos for better propaganda effect. A selection of these can be found below.

The photographs should be viewed alongside Otto Dix's artisitc drawings of similar events from the same year. See Otto Dix, Der Krieg (1924).

Ernst Friedrich (1894-1967)

[to come later]


The emblem Friedrich used in the book, a rifle being broken apart by two hands.	Ernst Friedrich (1894-1967)

Left: " War against war! 'Rebel!!! O ye that are dedicated to death!' Ernst Friedrich (disguised in soldier's uniform) speaks to German soldiers in the Siegesallee in Berlin and calls them out to revolution." p. 208.

Right: "You are assured of the gratitude of the Fatherland". p. 209.


The cover of the original edition of 1924.	The cover of the 1987 edition I bought on sale for $4.98.


The title page from a 2 volume reprinted edition., vol. 1.	The title page from a 2 volume reprinted edition., vol. 2.

Friedrich's book was meant to be confrontational. He encourged the purchasers of the book to list the anmes and dates of countries which banned his book. (p. 19)

The Visage (Face) of the War.

The book congtained a 24 page section with photographs of terrible facial wounds of soldiers whio were undergoing plastic survery.

Left: " After the steel bath: To the present day are lying in the hospitals gruesomely disfigured soldiers on whom operations are still being performed. Many of these unhappy war victims have undergone thirty, thirty-five and in some cases more than forty operations. In the case of thousands, the medical treatment has not yet been ended. Very many have to be fed artificially." p. 213.

Right: "Agricultural worker, 36 years of age. Wounded 1917. Nose and left cheek restored with flesh from head, breast and arm. (20 operations.") p. 216.

Left: "Agricultural worker, 36 years of age. Wounded 1917. Nose and left cheek restored with flesh from head, breast and arm. (20 operations.") p. 216.

Right: "Some war cripples refused information. Other wounded, particularly those gruesomely mutilated, did not allow themselves to be photographed, as theyb feared their relatives who had not seen them again, would either collapse at the sight of their misery, or would turn away forever from them in horrow and disgust." p. 217.

Left: "Lance-corporal F. Lower jaw and teeth blown away. Wounded 26.9.1914. Treatment not yet ended." p. 224.

Right: "In Germany alone there are still thousands of hospital inmates who are totally cut off from the world and drag on in their existences far from their families and friends and relatives, in the hope that they may perhaps after years again acquire the appearance of human beings." p. 225.

Left: "War agrees with me like a stay at a health resort" (Hindenburg), p. 232.

Right: "The 'health resort' of the proletarian. Almost the whole face blown away." 233.

Prosthetics to Restore Maimed Bodies

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

Playing Soldier

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

Left: "Paper soldiers for cutting out and pasting", p. 56.

Right: "The Church as an ally of Militarism in the education of children for the profession of murder. (The Cardinal of Westminster reviews, alongside of a General, a parage of English Boy Scouts" p. 57

Left: "The pride of the family: (An 'interesting' arranged phoitograph).", p. 110.

Right: "The pride of the family: (The other side of the picture, a few weeks later)." p. 111.

Photographs of Dead Bodies: Horses

Friedrich inlcuded many shots of dead and decomposing bodies, including animals like horses which were used in very large numbers in WW1 to transport men and supplies.

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

Photographs of Dead Bodies: Men

Friedrich inlcuded many shots of dead and decomposing bodies, including soldies and civilians.

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

[These images are not in my 1987 edition of the book].

Jarring Juxtapositions

Left: William II, Kaiser by the grace of God,rerturns from an inspection of the battlefield. (In order to prevent his royal foot from being dirtied by contact with the blood-soaked land, a wooden foot-path was specially constructed). p. 72

Right: "War is an element in the order ordained by God. (Count Moltke). p. 73.