KOMM-Bildungsbereich
2000 - 2005
On the road to war - Chechenya 1992 - 1996
Interviewfragen an Stanley Greene
Herr Greene, Sie fahren seit 1994 regelmäßig nach Tschetschenien um dort vor Ort über diesen Krieg zu berichten. Was unterscheidet den Krisenschauplatz Tschetschenien von anderen? (Mr. Greene, You are travelling to Chechnya since 1994 to document the war there. What is the difference between this war and the war anywhere in the world?)
The war in Chechnya is a very nasty war. What does it mean? Jelzin wants to kill me twice. In the first War - this was the war against Groszny in 1994 - they threw a thousand hundred bombs on this city. Totally they killed more than 30.000 men. In the second war in 1996, when they tried to occupy Groszny in the entire Country they killed about 70.000 men. But there are no figures about how many men they really killed. But there is another problem: When I was the third time in Chechnya, in April 2001, they reported that there werde 200.000 missing persons. The difference to the other wars in the world are not only this figures of killed men, the difference is that a super power destroyed a small country and nobody wants to prevent it, neither Clinton nor Bush. They lead friendly talks with Jelzin Putin instead of doing something against this war.
Wie verändert es einen Menschen diese Gewalt und Grausamkeit mitzubekommen, wie gehen Sie damit um? (The violence and horror you have seen there, what did it do to you? How are you managing this kind of impressions?)
I have nightmares all the time about what Iīve seen. And these experiences disconnected me with other people, so I tried
to channel this state into work and change my anger into creative work. This feeling reminds me on the situation in
Russia because I could not talk about the war in Chechnya with the Russian people. They deny this war and they donīt talk
about it. But when I left Russia this feeling continues.
You feel that life gets another meaning.
Was können Sie mit Ihrer Berichterstattung konkret für die Menschen vor Ort tun? (What can you do with your reports from Chechyna for the people there? Does it help?)
I can do nothing, because the Russian army blocks the access to computers, so nobody can inform the world about what happens in Chechnya. If the soldiers discover computers or other medias they steal or destroy them. I think they are afraid of seeing their activities as murderers brought to world court, as it is the case now with Milosevic.
And so I feel I can do nothing for the people in Chechnya. The buisness of killing goes on and on and my photoreports doesn`t help the people of Chechnya because the western world is not interested in publishing my photos. Some papers like Liberation and New York Times printed my photos, but I feel that they don`t want to be involved. Itīs just buisness as usual for them.
Sie haben gerade wieder eine Auszeichnung des World Press Photo Award für Ihre Tschetschenienbilder erhalten. Was bedeuten solche Auszeichnungen für Sie? (You got the world press photo award about your Chechnya photographs. What do mean prices like this to you?)
This price is another way of letting the world know, what happens to Chechnya. We have to document the situation. I admit, that there are bandits, I confess that Chechenyas commit crimes, but the real crime is the war on Chechnya by the Russians. And I know, that the public opinion is having a short memory, espacilly in question of this award, but I have to do my work because I am a pacifist.
Sie haben bei W. Eugene Smith gelernt, was ist das wichtigste, was Sie von Ihm lernen konnten für Ihre heutige Arbeit? (You have learned from W. Eugene Smith, what is the most important thing you have learned by him for your working today?)
First humanity, second to give your live to show truth and never give in.
Wie gehen Sie persönlich damit um Opfer von Gewalt zu fotografieren ohne Ihnen in der Situation konkret helfen zu können? (How do you manage personally the problem to make photo of a victim wthout the possibility to help that person?)
It is tough, but I have to show what really happens. My father was a performer and he told me, that a weapon of pacifistic missionary is his camera. For an example, I just can express my anger, about the starvation of 200 000 people in Africa only with my camera. Nobody reports, that a whole city is destroyed, but I have to try telling the truth about it, even if nobody wants to know it. I put the whole money I got from the magazines for my work and put it into it. I have no choice.
Was erwarten Sie sich von einem Besucher Ihrer Ausstellung? (At least, what do you expect by visitors of your exhibition?)
This is reality, this is not fiction. I hope, that the visitors will recognize the importance of my work and I hope that they see that nobody criticizes the Russians about what they are doing in Chechnya. I am afraid that the western, even if they do not awake, will not see that this war in Chechnya comes to the west. There are many refugees which are very frustrated. Mostly young people are ready for killing. Imagine, that a twelve year old boy, who has lost both legs, told me, that when he is grown up, he has to kill Russians and he has to kill me, because I am on the wrong side. It`s my great fear that this will happen.
