Never before seen images of carnage, hope and victory

April 11, 1971. Anne de Henning, a French photojournalist in her early twenties, crossed the Indo-Bangladesh border secretly to reveal the plight of the Bangladeshis to the world.

As she crossed the border through Jashore, she captured scenes of horrified refugees fleeing for their life, villages destroyed by occupation forces and courageous freedom fighters determined to resist the Pakistan army at all cost.

In Kushtia's Pangsha upazila, she took a photo of several freedom fighters, some of them being teenagers, who were demonstrating their determination and readiness to fight with bows and arrows, saying that they were willing to die to achieve an independent Bangladesh.

A speciality of the photos Anne had taken is that they are extremely rare, as foreign journalists were not allowed to enter the country when Anne visited, and these photos were never exhibited before.

Today, Anne's photos will be exhibited for the first time at an exhibition titled "Witnessing History in the Making: Photographs by Anne de Henning", jointly organised by Samdani Art Foundation and Centre for Research and Information (CRI) to mark the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh's independence.

The event will take place at Shilpakala Academy till December 31.

Anne took great risks to take the historic photos, as she felt committed to show the world the massacre committed by the Pakistan army and the sufferings of innocent Bangladeshis.

"I felt that the foreign press had a responsibility to convey to the outside world the plight of the Bengali people, who were ruthlessly denied their democratic rights following the December 1970 elections," Anne told this correspondent.

The photographer, who is now in her seventies, is currently in France and communicated with this correspondent via email.

She witnessed how Pakistani fighters were bombing villages in Kushtia and Pakistan army attacked innocent civilians and fleeing refugees.

She recounted, "In Goalundo Ghat on Padma river, which I intended to cross and push on to Dhaka, the silence was broken in the middle of the night by the rattle of heavy gunfire. Elements of the Pakistan forces had crossed the river and launched an attack."

All along her way, freedom fighters repeatedly requested her to tell the world that they were badly in need of modern military equipment. They were also appealing for foreign military intervention.

"That's when I decided to return to Calcutta to convey the needs of the freedom fighters and the plight of thousands of refugees trying to reach the border with India to avoid a massacre," shared Anne.

After the war, Anne was very keen to visit the newly independent Bangladesh. When she learned that Bangabandhu would deliver a speech on April 7, 1972, she travelled from Kolkata to photograph the event.

"As a photographer, it was very interesting to capture his different moods when switching from addressing the crowd with vigorous gestures to sitting quietly on the floor of the stage filling his pipe, drinking water, or taking notes. I could sense by his gestures, the tone of his voice, and the concentrated looks on the faces of the large crowd listening to him that he was giving a very invigorating speech," recounted Anne.

The photographs of Bangabandhu were also never published before.

Anne travelled to many war-torn countries such as Vietnam, Laos, Bangladesh and Middle Eastern countries. She took many historic photos of the conflicts and her works have been exhibited in numerous exhibitions in Europe and the Middle East.

Regarding this exhibition, Anne said, "The 50th anniversary of the independence of Bangladesh provides a context for me to exhibit the photographs taken in the country and share them with today's youth."

"Their presentation by Samdani Art Foundation testifies to the courage of a people ready to die to achieve freedom for their country. I would like these images to be an inspiration for the younger generation," Anne added.