This fantastic photo packed book arrived at the PAN office this week via publishers History Press featuring a photo collection story which involved the Topfoto Archives in the UK.
Reflections Of War – Forgotten Photographic Archives Of The Second World War
In his capacity as an antique dealer, Peter Deleuran discovered a forgotten archive of WW2 glass negatives with their original press sleeves. Since acquiring them, he has been committed to their careful restoration, while also excavating the human stories behind them. The book, Reflections of War, is his published research.
‘Unveiling 150 rare images and compelling background narratives across a variety of themes, from the early days of war through battles and frontlines, in hospitals and rescue operations, technology and warfare, to the home front, resistance and liberation, the end of war, its aftermath and remembrance.’
UK photo library Topfoto were involved in the process and pick up the story here: In September 2020, during what seemed to be just an ordinary busy “pandemic” week at the Topfoto archive, time suddenly seemed to stand still. Danish author and archivist Peter Deleuran phoned Topfoto with an irresistible offer and a missing piece of our archive.
In June 2020, Deleuran had acquired a collection of almost 300 WW2 glass negatives and photos and soon realised that almost 200 of them were from the Planet News archive, owned by Topfoto since the 1970s.
He called us up; the offer was made and accepted. Peter Deleuran would carefully research the story behind every image, digitise and restore them, and then send us the files so we could reunite the images with the rest of our Planet News collection online. The negatives and prints themselves had been long considered lost, presumed casualties of war during the bombing of London and the hosing down of burning buildings. In return, Topfoto gave the author permission to reproduce the images in a book, should he find a publisher.
Cracks in the glass, healed by technology and integrity: Over the past 5 years, Peter Deleuran spent many hours painstakingly researching and writing up the stories of each photograph and carefully restoring the high resolutions scans of images that were, in some cases, significantly damaged.
The cache of images is utterly fascinating and covers a range of topics, from American soldiers of Japanese descent in the 100th Infantry Battalion (known as the “Purple Heart Battalion” for their great courage) to The Goldsmith’s Company standing with their two-handed Sword of Honour, forged for His Majesty the King to present to the citizens of Stalingrad.
Amongst the most surprising images must surely be that of a baby delivered by a British Navy sailor during the Battle of Anzio in 1944, when a young Italian refugee went into labour on board a landing craft, apparently triggered by the impact of a collision.
Peter Deleuran’s discovery, his talent for story-telling and obsession with history had made a perfect connection, between his devoted scholarship and the treasures of the Topfoto archive.
The images, and the book, have already begun to make waves, with stellar reviews from Admiral James Stavridis, 16th Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, and historian Dr Helen Fry.
It has been a pleasure to work with Peter as he brought the images he found back to life, for all to explore through the medium of Topfoto’s online collections and now through his wonderful.