This book is the result of travels to the remains of the aristocratic estates of Eastern Europe, which were liquidated in 1945 as part of the Soviet Union's Agrarian reform.
The book takes the form of monochrome photographs by Marsden, accompanied by brief observations from him and from Duncan McLaren, as well as extracts from Weissbuch, a collection of harrowing statements from fleeing landowners, and firsthand accounts by survivors. These historical anecdotes present a powerful picture of the brutal annihilation of a civilian population, with vivid detail of displacement, destruction, murder, rape and suicide.
Marsden's photography, however, disappoints. The book contains two types of images. In the first, overuse of infra-red film results in a monotonous blur of buildings, black sky and white clouds. Hackneyed compositional devices are utilised plate after plate - for instance, the inclusion in the foreground of features such as pillars and tree trunks to frame the buildings. The second group of images depicts architectural detail. These pictures are lit inconsistently, giving the impression of being taken with a nervous haste.
Absence of a single living soul in Marsden's portfolio does achieve an eeriness to match the mood of the text, and if his aim is to establish the remnants of the former East Germany as a gothic graveyard, he succeeds. But why no images of these monuments juxtaposed against the stark architectural landscape of communism? Why no images of the survivors or the current occupants of these once-grand houses?
On page 48, of Schloss Zerbst, Marsden writes: "I was beginning to set up my tripod when a colourful procession of jugglers, clowns, musicians and fire-eaters approached the ruin . . . followed by a group of young children singing and laughing". Yet the adjacent image is typical: it depicts the obligatory black sky and white clouds, the roofless schloss framed by tree trunks, and not a soul in sight.
Bryan O Brien is an Irish Times photographer
