RICHARD PETER Dresden. Eine Kamera klagt an [1949] [Demolition of Dresden].

DRESDENER VERLAGGESELLSCHAFT KG Dresden 1949, pp. 92, no pagination, dimensions 24 x 28, hardcover with wrapper, wrapper with loss at edges. Cover with identical artwork as on the wrapper, very well preserved. Contains 104 black-and-white photographs of Dresden.

"Dresden - Camera Accuses" was first published in 1950 by "Dresdener Verlagsgesellschaft" in an edition of 50,000 pieces. The photo sequence with 104 black-and-white photographs is divided into three pieces/thematic areas: destroyed buildings, man as a bomb victim and reconstruction of the city. This is the only edition that has been authorized by the photographer.

The publication, which depicts images directed against war and annihilation and evokes depressing memories, became a propaganda item (as other cities similarly suffered great destruction, not to mention demolished Warsaw)and a politically cultivated "Dresden myth," and was intended to provide repeated, documentary "proof" of the Allies' barbaric policies.