for Hanna, Future Stories from the Past …

Willem Poelstra worked five years to tell a timeless story of the impact of war, after he learned about his own parents’ untold past. In Kosovo he saw how war can divide families, friends and lovers.

Willem Poelstra didn’t know much about his parents’ past. It was only in 2011, after they had both died, that he found a box filled with letters, pictures and other documents. It unfolded a history they had preferred not to speak of. He learned that his Jewish mother had lost dozens of family members in concentration camps during World War 2, whilst his father was working in a German locomotive factory at his own free will. Yet, they fell in love when the war was over.

Poelstra wanted to mirror his parents’ untold past to present-day stories of war and the deep scars it leaves on people and their communities. And to show a timeless story that keeps repeating itself.

In early 2012 Poelstra travelled to Kosovo for the first time. The effects of the war that took place in 1998 and 1999 are still visible. The Albanian majority and Serbian minority in Kosovo are still deeply divided. Poelstra kept coming back for five years and encountered numerous communities that are marked by a dark past. But he also met people who managed to overcome their feelings of hatred. Just like his own parents did.