Martin Roemers

The Cold War is over – yet signs of it still exist. For forty years, the Iron Curtain divided the countries of Europe into East and West. The arms race was unleashed, nuclear fallout shelters were constructed, and everyone braced for the worst. Dutch photographer Martin Roemers (1962) spent ten years in search of the traces of this period, travelling through the countries of former enemies on both sides of the line. He explored and photographed abandoned underground tunnels, former barracks, rotting tanks, and destroyed monuments. His photographs, which are presented here with essays by H.J.A. Hofland and Nadine Barth, are a stark and moving document of this era of hostility, deterrence politics, and the arms race – and also serve as an appeal for future peace.

Text in English and Dutch.