When German photographer Marc Beckmann was in college 11 years ago, he assigned himself to shoot the 60th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, which made a mesmerizing impression on the 26-year-old photography student. In the next decade, without any editorial support, he went on to photograph another 15 anniversaries of historical significance, from the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the Prague Spring, to the erection of Berlin Wall, the Islamic Revolution, 9/11 and the most recent conflicts in Egypt.
The biggest and perhaps most ambitious project to date for Beckmann, now 37, is to explore how these events shape collective memories and affirm national identities. “The project looks at how we remember the past, and how we work with history today,” he tells TIME.
At these orchestrated events, often in the form of spectacular military parades, state ceremonies and even demonstrations, Beckmann tried to shy away from prescribed images such as those ones of decorated veterans, heads of states or wreathes of flowers. Instead, his vibrant images, shot entirely on a Mamiya 7 medium format camera, offer quiet observations that are, in many cases, countering the propaganda images governments hope the press will produce.
“With this format you automatically have to step back a little, you make very different compositions, you work much more calmly,” he said.
Beckmann quickly realized that he would be unable to photograph all of the anniversaries being celebrated around the world. “I decided to take events from the last 100 years, then try to do the key events of history that affected us in the western world,” he explains. While he mostly documented events around Europe, he also photographed a few other anniversaries outside, including the 35th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon.
Marc Beckmann is a German photographer based in Berlin. His personal project, Anniversaries, will be exhibited at C/O Berlin from June 20 to August 16.
Ye Ming is a writer and contributor to TIME LightBox. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Gold Beach, 60th anniversary of D-Day, 2004The destroyed, former artificial harbor at Arromanches beach. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzOmaha Beach, 60th anniversary of D-Day, 2004A veteran of the 29th Infantry Division in four Ville-Sur-Mer. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzNormandy, 60th anniversary of D-Day, 2004French stunt pilots draw the colors of the french flag at the commemoration ceremony in Arromanches. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzLa Cambe, 60th anniversary of D-Day, 2004German military cemetery at La Cambe. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzMoscow, 60th anniversary of the end of WWII, 2005
A young soldier and veterans at the Belorussky train station.Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzAuschwitz-Birkenau,
60th anniversary of the camp's liberation, 2005Polish soldiers on the way to the commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp by the Red Army on Jan. 27, 1945. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzCemetery in Potocari, Bosnia and Herzegovina
, 16th anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre, 2011
Women grieve the remains of their relatives killed by Serbian military units during the Bosnian War. Identified human remains from the mass graves are buried every year on the anniversary of the massacre.
Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzBosnia and Herzegovina, 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.Statue for Gavrilo Princip at the main square of new East Sarajevo. New East Sarajevo is near to the original Sarajevo but is part of the Republika Srpska. For the Serbs, Gavrillo Princip is a national hero for killing Franz Ferdinand, which led to the independence of Yugoslavia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As a result of the assassination of the Archduke, WWI broke out. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzFreedom Square, 30th anniversary of Islamic Revolution, 2009Official ceremonies in Azadi Square (Freedom Square) in Tehran. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzBerlin, 55th anniversary of June 17, People's Uprising of East Germany, 2008.A group of people remember the People's Uprising in East Germany in 1953, which was violently suppressed by Soviet troops. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzWenceslas Square, 40th anniversary of the
Prague Spring, 2008Czech soldier reenactors in Russian uniforms of 1968 before the Prague National Museum, showing the violent suppression of the Prague Spring by Soviet tanks on August 21, 1968. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzBerlin, 50th anniversary of the erection of the Berlin Wall, 2011The Berlin Wall Documentation Center on Bernauer Street. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzGdansk, 70th anniversary of the outbreak of WWII, 2009Commemorative event before the old post office in Gdansk. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzGorky Park, 60th anniversary of the end of WWII, 2005
Stage in the "Park of Culture" (formerly Gorky Park) in Moscow. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzCairo, second anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution, 2013Demonstrators throw stones over a barrier erected between protesters and armed officers. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzLes Témoins de l'Histoire, 95th Anniversary of the
Battle of Verdun, 2011
Members of the Les Témoins de l'Histoire à la RATP cross the cemetery to attend a night mass at the Douaumont Ossuary at the annual torch parade. Marc Beckmann—OstkreuzHo Chi Minh City, 35th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, 2010A former Viet Cong at the Presidential Palace in Ho Chi Minh City. Marc Beckmann—Ostkreuz
