The story of a disturbing wartime photograph. Why were children placed in the “prayer position”

Pain, hope, helplessness and prayer. This is how we can describe the war photographs that were taken to ease the longing of those who fought for the ancestral land.

Such photos are owned by Alexandru Chiș, the young man from Arada who opened his Ethnographic Museum in Covăsânt, right in his parents’ house.

It tells us about what war photographs were like and what their role was. More precisely, it is about almost desperate attempts to ease the longing of those who fought for the ancestral land, for the Romanian language, for the holy faith, in a word for the country and its future. And the wives who stayed at home (with or without children), were clinging to any hope, so they would take a photo and send it to their husband.

“The sadness of the separation, the fear of losing him, the loneliness and the weight left on the wife’s shoulders seem to me to be visible on her face. To encourage him and to show that they are with him, the children are placed in the photo “in the position of prayer”. How many prayers were said then? How many tears flowed? How many photos reached the front? How many returned home with the one to whom the photo was sent? Oh, how many questions and how many stories start from a simple photo”, are the questions Alexandru Chiș asks himself.

Passionate about the history of his native village, the young man tried to gather information, not only from the village elders, but also from old documents or photographs.

“Old photos, with their patina and smell, remind us of beautiful or less beautiful people, situations and moments. Old photos are how we can better understand the history, people and life of past decades. In addition to the objects that I collected for the “Zestrea Satului” Museum in Covăsânț, I also collected old photographs, some with impressive stories behind them. confesses the young man from Arada.

Digital Archive

Alexandru also says that being aware of the fact that some people cannot part with photos, he decided to scan them and create a digital archive, as a result, at this moment he managed to collect a lot of photos in digital format.

Some photos were made into paintings, out of the desire to exhibit them in various places.

“We have also set up a small exhibition within the Museum with these treasures, which are waiting to be admired and to find out the story behind them. In the future, I would even like to exhibit them in big cities, so that the world knows the history and culture of a small point on the map, but big in my soul, Covăsânț”,
concludes Alexandru Chiș.

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