It was an unexpected blow – I hadn’t anticipated the appearance of tourists – although thinking about it, (...) wasn’t it my own fault if I was unprepared for this situation ?
Tourists are like ants: bit by bit but relentlessly, they take away the meaning of things; every word, every photo removes a little of the silent gravity that surrounds them.
Based on Imre Kertész, A nyomkereső (The Pathseeker) (1977).

Arras (Pas-de-Calais, France), 30 April 2012. Family reunion. Visit to the town and therefore the Wellington Quarry, a tourist site that relates the history of the battle of Arras in 1917 and gives visitors a chance to explore the underground tunnels that the English and the Australians could have used to cut through the German defences.

Audi tellus, 9th-century anonymous lament taken from the anthology Ultima Lacrima (Gérard Le Vot). This medieval song foretelling the Last Judgement obviously lent itself very well to an evocation of the “Great Slaughter”.

Translation : Jacques Permentiers