This article originally appeared on VICE France
Erik Kessels’ new book, Shit, is literally a collection of pictures of German soldiers taking a shit during WWII. In many of them, they’re doing their business side-by-side, squatting on a wooden bar that’s nicknamed the “Donnerbalken” (bar of thunder).
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“About a year ago, I stumbled upon some of the photos on eBay,” remembers the Dutch artist and designer. “I’m not sure why, but there’s a pretty big second-hand market for these sorts of images from WWII.”
The book starts with a short introduction on the historical origins of the photos. According to Kessels, despite wanting to add a bit of academic weight to the project, he wasn’t able to find a historian who specialises in both faecal matter and Nazis.
Scroll down to see more photos from Shit (RVB books), which is out on the 26th of November.
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