Exhibition  »WORLD WAR ONE ON FOOT« Through the Lens of an Unknown Soldier

 The openingof the Exhibition »WORLDWAR ONE ON FOOT« willtake place in LJUBLJANA Castle / Ljubljanski Grad, “Galerija S”, on 5^th May 2011 at 16:30 and it will beavailable for visitors until 12^th June 2011.

(More information on disposal f.e. on: www.ljubljanskigrad.si )

This exhibition will be also presented in KOBARID – “Kobariški muzej”, on 22^nd June 2011 at 18:30 and it will be available for visitors till the end of August (www.kobariski-muzej.si/). 

 

 Making-tea in the tent, photograph Jindřich Bišický in the tent on the right side
Photograph from the Exhibition „World War One on Foot“http://www.scena.cz/index.php?d=1&o=4&c=9770&r=22

Exhibition: "World War One on Foot" - "Through the lens of an Unknown Soldier”

Exhibition of historical photographs entitled "World War One on Foot" was prepared by the Prague Castle Administration, which is hosting this exhibition and to whom we thank for the kind loan of the exhibits. First of all we thank to all creators of this exhibition. The authors and curators are the leading Czech photographer Jaroslav Kučera and well-known photo-theorist Daniela Mrázková. Photographer Jaroslav Kučera discovered ''forgotten" negatives in his archives, which had been created formerly by an unknown photographer. Another expert Jan Haas from the Military History Institute helped to identify places, people and military technology. Although the subtitle of the exhibition "Through the lens of an Unknown Soldier" is getting at the unknown photographer, the team finally managed to determine the identity and full name of the original photographer, who was Jindřich Bišický, acting as a first lieutenant in the 47^th Infantry Regiment of Austrian Army. The person who significantly helped to determine the identity of the Czech war photographer was his grandson, Michal Rybák, who administers the estate of his ancestor with a great care. The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Ljubljana would like to express the appreciation to all authors and cooperators for their contribution, which provides the live testimony of an ordinary life of soldiers at the front for contemporary generation.

This exhibition took place in Prague Castle's Theresian wing at first (April 10 - July 19, 2009) under the auspices of the President of the Czech Republic, Mr. Václav Klaus. The part of photographs was also introduced in the Czech House in Brussels and in the Wallenstein Palace in Prague.  "World War One on Foot" in Slovenia is organized by the Czech Embassy in Ljubljana with the kind support of Ljubljana Castle/Ljubljanski Grad and City of Ljubljana/Mestna občina Ljubljana. We would also like to thank to our sponsors: VIPAP VIDEM Krško d.d., Litostroj Power d.o.o., ČKD Blansko Engineering, a.s., KRKA d.d., Novo mesto and the other cooperating subjects of this cultural event.

Authors about the exhibition:

The second half of the 19^th century was influenced by great developments in science and technology, the results of which were applied to equipment in virtually all armies. Therefore, the beginning of the 20^th century evidenced war events of extraordinary proportion. Until that point, the Russo-Japanese war, taking place in 1904 – 1905, had been the most bloody, yet still localized, conflict. What followed less then a decade later entirely surpassed all horrors and suffering that mankind had ever experienced – the Great War. The Great War, later called World War I, was a bloody conflict using the latest weapons and taking place on several fronts which were thousands of kilometers long. Despite all the facts the frontlines ceased advancing and hid in trenches during the first war year and they moved on only for several kilometers during the war. The war was waged on three continents and the tens of countries were involved. Over 70 millions of men were mobilized. The Triple Entente had 44.5 millions of men (5 413 000 were killed) while 25,5 millions of men fought on the side of Central Powers (4 029 000 were killed). Small memorials with the names of killed soldiers can be found in almost every Czech village. These names represent the both sides fighting in the name of the monarchy or against it. Not only soldiers were killed, over 8,5 millions of civilians died during the attacks. Over 21 millions of the war-wounded had been reported. Peace treaties rearranged the world. Powerful empires failed and new states were born on their ruins, celebrating their acquired freedom. The approaching end of the war (November 11, 1918) contributed to the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia on October 28, 1918. Nevertheless, the sources of the new, more disastrous worldwide conflict could be traced from the very beginning of these peaceful times.

The exhibition World War One on Foot provides the visitors the look behind the scenes of war. The bigger part of displayed pictures is related to the Italian front, documenting the life of the 47^th infantry regiment. The smaller part is related to the Eastern front in Galicia and the operation of the „Czech“ 28^th infantry regiment. Prior to the war this regiment was deployed in Prague. Until 1915 its soldiers fought in Galicia and later then they were transferred to the Italian front.

The participation of Czech soldiers on the battlefields of the Isonzo Front

Battlefields of the Isonzo Front are associated with the participation of many Czech soldiers. A large number of Czechs was fighting on this war front during the World War I in the ranks of the Austro-Hungarian army. Headquarters of the Army preferred to send Czech soldiers to the Isonzo Front rather than to the Eastern Front. On the Russian Front there were frequent desertions of Czechs escaping to "voluntary" Russian captivity, where they formed a Czech legion fighting against Austro-Hungarian or German troops. However, at the end of the war in Italy Czech legionaries appeared also on the Italian-Austrian front from the Italian side, so it was quite usual that the Czechs fought against the Czechs. Extremely heavy fighting in the mountainous valley of river Soča (Isonzo) in the Julian Alps between 1915 and 1917 claimed about one million dead or wounded soldiers and civilians on both sides of the Austro-Italian front. It is estimated that tens of thousands of Czech soldiers also died in this region.

Thousands of soldiers from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, who was fighting on the Isonzo front, operated especially in the units of the Austro-Hungarian army. It is interesting that just the units from Czech lands occurred on the battlefield among the first defenders of the Austrian border, shortly after the Italian declaration of war. A number of infantry battalions from Brno, Jihlava, Plzeň, Hradec Králové, České Budějovice, Opava and from Prague (Praha) became famous for brave fighting in the vicinity of Kras, Gorica/Gorizia (currently Nova Gorica/Gorizia) and close to Kobarid (e. g. Mrzli vrh).