ABOUT
‘Only the dead have seen the end of war.’ Almost as predicted by a prophet, George Santayana’s words from the early 1920s seem to describe the fate of mankind.
Although the horror and the devastation of Hiroshima should have brought enduring change to our minds and actions, not a single day on this planet has passed after 1945 without an armed fighting between two or more countries or groups – not a single day without war.
Since the end of World War II millions of people have been killed and wounded in all these conflicts, hundreds of millions were displaced within their home countries, have fled across borders and sought asylum.
As long as the term ‘war’ is part of our daily life, we have to pursue ending it. Permanently. Continuously.
Sebastian Swoboda . . .
Swoboda – a surname descended from my grandmother’s line with a powerful meaning: freedom and liberty.
The spirit of these words acted like a loyal companion throughout my life, from the young days in East Germany before and after the Wall came down, through the studies of Geography and Cultural Anthropology during the Noughties, towards the work on this project over the past ten years.
Having seen many regions of conflict around the globe and observed countless different hopes and desires for a peaceful life, my work may become part of the paving for the route towards a world without war.
For I know it takes more than one man to achieve this ultimate aspiration, there’s a quote of Edmund Burke that inspires and encourages me:
‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’