#PeaceforFriedrichBrandt and the debate on displaying human remains

The remains of a soldier, widely believed to be 23-year-old hunchback, Private Friedrich Brandt from Hanover, Germany, have been the centre of debate amongst historians lately.

The skeleton of the man who died during the Battle of Waterloo 200 years ago is currently on display in a Belgium museum as part of a commemorative exhibition after having been found under a car park near the battlefield in 2012.

Campaigners, including many military historians and archaeologists, are calling for the remains to be reinterred with the “dignity and respect [of a] proper burial that has been denied him for so long.” German historian, Rob Schäfer, who has created a Facebook and a change.org page in order to petition and raise awareness about the controversy surrounding Private Brandt’s remains, has stated that: “It is accepted that his remains should be studied for serious archaeological purposes but, after the data has been collected, the man should be allowed to rest in peace, instead of being viewed as a morbid object of curiosity by thousands of paying tourists - particularly when in an enlightened and technologically advanced world it is perfectly possible to laser scan the remains and produce a 3D replica for display.”

Tony Pollard, historian, archaeologist and Editor of Journal of Conflict Archaeology, tweeted: “He was a soldier. He died in battle. He deserves a grave. End of.” Comedian and keen historian, Al Murray, also contributed to the debate by tweeting: “#PeaceforFriedrichBrandt this soldier's bones shouldn't be on display, he should be at rest.”

Those in opposition to this campaign have made reference to the display of Egyptian Mummies and Bog Bodies to support the exhibition of Private Brandt’s remains. The Memorial has defended the exhibit, stating that “ultimately, it seemed to everybody that the greatest homage that could be paid to him was to consider him, with the respect to which he is entitled and that the museum exhibit has sought to ensure.”  

Should the remains of Friedrich Brandt be given a proper burial? Is there a gain to keeping his bones as part of a commemorative exhibition? Let us know your thoughts.

Read more about the human remains in museum collections in these two free articles from Public Archaeology:

The ethics of displaying human remains from British archaeological sites

The Value of Human Remains in Museum Collections 

‘The War to End All Wars’: Commemoration in 2014

2014 marks 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War, a milestone in world history that claimed the lives of almost 17 million people worldwide. In the following guest blog post our resident historian, Kate Smith, takes a closer look at how both the conflict and its commemoration are represented in our online archive.

 

The Great War has long since played a significant role in our historical memory but this year Britain is planning several events to commemorate this special anniversary. It is important to remember the bravery of those who fought for four long years and to learn from the lessons of the past.

The centenary has led to a flurry of papers focusing on the commemoration of the war. ‘Remembering War, Resisting Myth: Veteran Autobiographies and the Great War in the Twenty-first Century’ examines the reconstruction of the First World War in the autobiographies of the last two surviving British veterans; these men committed their memories to paper shortly before their deaths in 2009. This article, recently published in the Journal of War & Culture Studies, explores the reception of their testimonies and assesses the extent to which their accounts reinforce or resist mythic narratives of the Great War. Trott also considers whether a diversity of perspectives will remain now that the war has almost entirely passed out of living memory and the affect this will have on popular culture in the future.

 

An article published earlier this year in the Journal of Conflict Archaeology, entitled ‘Commemoration of the Great War: A Global Phenomenon or a National Agenda?', explores a different aspect of commemoration. Van der Auwera and Schramme analyse the specific national sensitivities related to the commemoration of the First World War and investigate the reasons why some states around the world commemorate it more strongly than others.

Many noteworthy and thought-provoking papers have transpired about all aspects of the war including the causes, military strategy, the Home Front, literature and science. However, it appears that, as time passes, our understanding of the First World War will rely more than ever on archaeology. The Editors of Journal of Conflict Archaeology, Tony Polland and Iain Banks, explain the growing interest in the archaeology of the First World War in 'Not so Quiet on the Western Front: Progress and Prospect in the Archaeology of the First World War’. They conclude with the following:

“Thanks to the work of a small number of archaeologists in recent years… we now have the tools to do the archaeology of the First World War justice, what lies ahead is the difficult task of ensuring that they are applied as part of a meaningful research framework and not just for the delectation of television audiences or as a means of removing problematic barriers to development. Accomplishing this is perhaps one of the most exciting and perhaps difficult challenges facing conflict archaeology today.”

Maney Publishing has made 100 articles free to download to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the outbreak of WW1 >

Mapping for D-Day: The Allied Landings in Normandy, 6 June 1944

As I'm sure you all know, Friday 6 June was the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. I took a look in our online archive to find an article suitable to this austere occasion and came across 'Mapping for D-Day: The Allied Landings in Normandy, 6 June 1944' in The Cartographic Journal.

Operation Overlord, with Neptune, its naval counterpart, was the largest amphibious assault in history. On 6 June 1944, after years of planning and benefiting from the topographical preparations for, and experience of, the landings in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, over 150 000 men landed from more than 4000 ships along 80 km of Normandy coastline.

 

Careful examination of existing maps revealed that because of its relatively flat terrain and lack of obvious physical obstacles, the area was the most suitable for an Allied invasion. Vast quantities of new maps — many drawn up from existing maps, postcards and photographs, and updated using aerial photos and intelligence from various sources — had to be prepared.

 

Montgomery subsequently commended the D-Day survey effort, stating that map supply never failed or prejudiced operations. In turn, the planning and experience of the Normandy landings informed the preparations for operation Anvil, the landings in the south of France on 15 August 1944. This paper examines the development of Allied mapping and geographic support programmes during the two-year period of preparations for D-Day, and during the landings, establishment of the bridgehead and breakout.

 

The authors conclude that:

 

"What was remarkable about the Overlord operation was the way in which inter-Allied, and inter-Service, cooperation and goodwill overcame the inevitable friction. There were certainly serious problems in the early stages; the British Lt-General. Morgan (COSSAC), after repeatedly re-reading an American invasion planning paper, admitted that he did not understand a word of it! The appointment of a single Task Force Commander and joint-services staff would have increased planning efficiency, eliminated duplication in survey and mapping, and in intelligence and target acquisition, and would have resulted in quicker allocation of fire support tasks to the various services. Coordination of the huge numbers of large-scale assault maps and defence overprints was essential in order to avoid duplication of effort, but did not happen. Full use was not made of COSSAC's Theatre Intelligence Section until after its integration with SHAEF.

 

The various Anglo-American accords on mapping, intelligence and so forth (which can actually be traced back to 1917-18...served as the model for NATO in the post-war period, and indeed up to the present day)."

 

Read the full article for free >

LIVE AT THE SAA 2014: What are you enjoying about this year's conference?

The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) is the largest organization of professional archaeologists of the Americas in the world. The Society was founded in 1934 and today has over 7000 members. Its annual conferences have been running every year since 1935 and is a major event in an archaeologist’s calendar.

This year’s meeting is in Austin, Texas and we’ve been asking delegates what they are most looking forward to and why they love the SAA 2014!

“I'm interested in historical archaeology, especially of the Caribbean. SAA is such a great opportunity to see people. It's a gigantic conference so it's impossible to do everything.” - Todd Ahlman, Historical Research Association

“I'm looking forward to a session on Conflict, Archaeology and the Press. It's a really under-discussed area and the session will cover areas like Egypt and the Arab Spring, and various battles - it's going to be a varied and interesting session. Interacting with the media can be risky, archaeologists don't have control over how their comments are conveyed. We had a module on the press when I did my degree at Newcastle but that's pretty unusual.” - Suzie Thomas, University of Helsinki

“The Defining Spatial Archaeometry session is one I'm really looking forward to - I'll pick up new techniques and ideas regarding modelling. I've been coming to SAA for about 20 years now and it's just fantastic for interacting with professionals, meeting old friends and developing collaborations. It recharges the inspiration batteries!” - Tad Britt, National Center for Preservation Technology

“The session Stewardship, Public Education, And Preservation: Promoting The

Value of Archaeological Collections and Research is perfect for me as I work in this field. There's also a great poster session on interactive interpretative technologies which is going to be really interesting. This is my 2nd SAA and I'm impressed with how much is going on. There's more historic archaeology too this year which is great!” - Tristan Harrenstein, Florida Public Archaeology Network

“I'm looking forward to Saturday's session, Subsistence and Landscape Change in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is about climate change in the Holocene. I'm based on the United States island territory of Guam. The west Pacific will be affected by climate change over the next 50 years with changing sea levels - it's quite scary for a lot of people. There's lots of debate in this area. Many islands will become uninhabitable. I'm very interested in doing climate change research in this region.” - John Peterson, University of Guam

And what are we looking forward to the most?…..probably a very large Gin & Tonic! J

Read all of the SAA session abstracts here