CWL----William Frassanito, Gettysburg and a Correction in History

Frassanito: Battlefield Photography Then & Now, Greystone Communications Group, VHS, 60 minutes, 2001.

Nearly all look back to the History Channels' Civil War programming with fondness for Greystone Communications efforts. Those who travelled to Gettysburg in the late 90s and until about 2005 usually made a stop at Greystone's American History Store at the intersection of Steinwehr Avenue and Baltimore Pike. Did CWL buy Gettysburg Magazine anywhere else? Probably not, it was always discounted 10% at the store. As a matter of fact, the December the store went out of business, CWL was in town for a whole week on a honeymoon. With books and media ranging from 50% to 80% off the retail price, s couple of shopping bags of books went home. Fortunately, the American History Story quickly reopened under new management and currently, with the near demise of the Farnesworth House's bookstore this winter, the AHS is among the best bookstores in Gettysburg.

Greystone's The Unknown Civil War series included Frassanito: Battlefield Photography Then & Now. Narrated by Stephen Lang, who was cast as George Pickett and Stonewall Jackson in Ron Maxwell's films, the film summarized William Frassanito's groundbreaking detective work on 1863 photography at Gettysburg. The publication of William Frassanito’s Gettysburg: A Journey in Time began a new field in Gettysburg studies. Approaching post-battle photographs as historical documents, he found many to be misidentified and misunderstood. Frassanito toured the battlefield with Brady’s, Gardner’s and Tipton’s photographs in hand. He struggled with the changed tree lines and missing fences. Key to Frassanito’s discovery were the unique shapes of rocks and boulders. He found that published pictures were mislabeled as being on the July 1 field when in fact their setting was the July 2 field. The settings were on the Rose Farm, which had been absent from battlefield studies, now came to the forefront. Frassanito focused on the positions of arms and legs and realized that the bodies were photographed from different angles. Furthermore, he reinterpreted the famous Devils Den sharpshooter photograph and concluded the body had been carried to the spot and equipment added.

CWL surveyed Glen Tucker's 1958 High Tide at Gettysburg and Edwin Coddington's 1968 Gettysburg: A Study in Command and found that indeed that prior to Frassanito's work, the Bushman/Rose/Slyder farms' actions did indeed get short discussions.

Gettysburg Books by William Frassanito:
Gettysburg: A Journey in Time, 1975
Early Photography at Gettysburg, 1995
Gettysburg, Then & Now: Touring the Battlefield With Old Photos, 1996
The Gettysburg Then and Now Companion, 1997

J'assume!

Translation: I assume responsibility.
So said France's highest administrative court, the Conseil d'Etat, with respect to the arrest, detention and transportation that facilitated the deportation from France to concentration camps in Nazi Germany of 76,000 people, 11,000 of whom were children and fewer than 3000 of whom returned (photo of deportation train at left). In particular, the Conseil recognized that the participation of France in these activities was "did not result from a direct constraint by the occupier." The Conseil's decision was rendered in order to clarify the situation with respect to damages that might be recoverable by family members of persons who died during deportation. There are roughly 400 such cases currently pending before administrative tribunals. Among them is the Lipietz case decided in 2006, which, as IntLawGrrls guest/alumna Vivian Grosswald Curran and I have posted, was inspired by Holocaust litigation against the French railroad under the Alien Tort Statute (having been unsuccessful, some survivors are asking Congress for help). A central issue in both French and US cases is whether the SNCF/France or Germany was responsible for the convoys and/or whether the SNCF adequately proved it acted under duress. The Conseil's recognition of France's responsibility was thus welcomed by "Nazi hunter" Serge Klarsfeld, who, with his wife Beate (couple at right) helped bring to trial Klaus Barbie, Maurice Papon and Paul Touvier, among others. Klarsfeld also felt the Conseil was right in holding that the various measures France has taken since 1945 to indemnify Holocaust victims and their families are sufficient. In other words, the irreparable has already been repaired as much as possible. This may be in keeping with the French tort policy of limiting damages for "moral prejudice," i.e., all forms of irreparable harm, to a minimal, symbolic amount. Indeed, Klarsfeld's son, Arno, seemed to side with those who were unfavorable toward the Lipietz litigation, considering it as exploitating the Holocaust. As I've posted, the younger Klarsfeld helped represent victims or their survivors in the 1999 trial of Maurice Papon for crimes against humanity, but defended the SNCF in ATS litigation in the United States, claiming that the convoys were German, not French -- a position he'll now have to revise.