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HORST FAAS
REPRESENTATION:
The images published in The Washington Post are a part of “Death in Dacca,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo series by Associated Press photographers Horst Faas and Michel Laurent.
These photos show Bangladesh forces torturing and brutally executing four men accused of collaboration with Pakistani fighters. These photos were taken just one day after the Pakistani Army’s defeat in 1971.
REALITY:
Many witnesses, including renowned Magnum photographer Marc Riboud, believe that Faas’ and Laurent’s presence escalated the violence, resulting in the death of the victims. Riboud recalls “three other European photographers” who took pictures. “When I saw that, I was sick.”
Harold Evans, former editor of The Times of London, recalls that a group of photographers “felt that their cameras were inciting the soldiers,” left the scene. Fass and Laurent stayed. After the photographs were awarded the Pulitzer Prize, Evans declared the decision “demeaning to photojournalism.
Learn more:
- See the photos in the December 20, 1971 issue of the Chicago Tribune
- View WPP’s gallery of the images
- Read Harold Evan’s view of event
Image copyright Horst Faas / Michel Laurent