Dr. Bernhard Bardach, a physician from Vienna, was forty-eight years old when he enlisted as a medical officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, serving on the Eastern front and in Italy. Three hundred thousand Jews fought in the Austrian army; 30,000 fell. Three-quarters of the Austrian troops were of East-European ancestry and became increasingly reluctant to obey the commands of Austrian officers to fight against other Slavs. Dr. Bardach kept a diary throughout the war, noting regretfully, that in the early days of the fighting, it was often necessary to treat his “beloved Bosnians” for self-inflicted wounds they gave themselves in order to avoid fighting.
During his four years of service, Dr. Bardach produced more than nine hundred photos, some of which are shown here. These pictures illustrate the encounter between increasingly modern warfare and the life of ordinary soldiers on the battlefields of Eastern Europe. They also reflect the tedium of war. |
