The Same Ground

German graves standing in the rows at Ranville, among the Commonwealth ones. Different stone, different cross, the same grass.

Günther Kresse was born in March 1924 and died in June 1944. The men on either side of him died in the same weeks, fighting him. Ranville has buried them together since the beginning and nobody has ever proposed moving anyone.

It is the least sentimental thing in Normandy and probably the most decent.

Ranville War Cemetery, Normandy. August 2019. Canon 6D Mark II, 16–35mm.

Printed at 45 × 30 cm through WhiteWall in Berlin. Choose Ilford or Baryta paper, as a plain print or framed — what the finishes actually mean.