Haunting

Another look at the harsh angles of the Holcaust Monument- entirely appropriate for its subject.

I went back to the west entrance and photographed the view looking outward at the War Museum.

There are a series of historical panels here telling the story of the Holocaust and the millions systematically by the Nazi regime, including six million Jews. This was pure evil walking the earth.

Another look around.

I went up to the second level and photographed the view. The Monument is relatively recent, but entirely appropriate for its subject.

Holocaust

At the end of September, I stopped in at the Canadian War Museum for lunch, and after leaving passed by the National Holocaust Monument, which lies across the road. It had been awhile since I had last paid my respects, so I went inside from the east entrance. The Monument is a collaborative work, designed by Daniel Libeskind, with contributions including landscape architecture and historian consultation. It is a solemn place, reflecting on the darkest chapter of World War Two.

Within is also the work of Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, who photographed Holocaust locations in the current era, with his work etched onto the walls. Two of them are side by side. Prayer Room, Theresienstadt, Czech Republic and Hiding Place, Warsaw Jewish Cemetery, Poland speak to the enduring defiance of survivors of the Holocaust.

There is an antechamber with a memorial flame.

Here we have Abandoned Railbed, Treblinka, Poland. Nearly a million people were put to death in that place.

Track 17, Berlin, Germany was the starting point for many trains heading to the death camps.

This is particularly affecting. Fence, Auschwitz-Birkenau shows the death camp as it is in the current day. 

Across from it is another haunting one. Site Of Death March, Near Mauthausen, Austria stirs up memories of the end of the war, when the Nazis force marched prisoners back towards areas still under German control. At this place, prisoners who couldn't keep up were shot and left to die in the ditches.

Looking into the Monument from the west entrance. We have more from here tomorrow.

Royal Canadian Navy Monument

 Richmond Landing is older than the city itself. After the War of 1812, veterans of that war, with their families, landed here on the shores of the Ottawa River and made a trail inland to found the village of Richmond, which today is within the city boundaries of Ottawa. Here on the other side of an artificial channel of the river that serves to be a home for white water kayaking is another monument, this one to the Royal Canadian Navy.

There is a naval yardarm here, with a low wall of names of ships and navy stations from the long history of the Navy.

Many of them were named after cities and towns across the country. If they've been used repeatedly, the number is listed after the name. I wasn't sure about the markings on the stone, but this spot is relatively low in relation to the river, and I've seen the aftermath of high spring waters get in here.

The other portion of the monument is this large stone wall.

Inscribed on it are theatres of war and military operations the Navy has served in- many of them from the Second World War. The only one without a date refers to the Persian Gulf. Canadian ships were part of Desert Storm, and have been on duty there on a regular basis ever since.

I went down to the river itself. Quite a view downstream.

One last shot. The dark shape before the monument is that of a dog, patiently waiting for its human to stop doing what I was doing- taking photos.

At The National War Memorial

Every once in awhile I'll photograph the National War Memorial, at the heart of Confederation Square downtown. It is one of my favourite photo subjects.

On the south end of the property, banners are displayed on the history of the place. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which dates to 2000, has become in many ways the most sacred place in the country.

From April into November during the day, servicemen and women from units across each of the military branches can be found on the grounds as an honour guard. Two of them will do hour long shifts twice a day before being relieved by the next set, taking their breaks in a space beneath the nearby Plaza Bridge.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is at the base of the Memorial.

The Memorial was designed by Vernon March as a memorial after World War One. It was dedicated in the months before World War Two. It has since been rededicated to include that war, the Korean War, the South African War, the Afghan War, and those who have died in military service to the country. It features 22 service members moving through an arch, with two allegorical figures at the top of the arch. It has the tone of commemoration and mourning, entirely appropriate for a war memorial.