Interviews

Interview with Aleppian photographer Karam Al-Masri

by The Aleppo Project on October 19, 2015

Karam al-Masri’s story is both familiar in war torn Aleppo and extraordinary. A second-year law student in 2011, he has emerged as one of the most widely distributed and acclaimed news photographers covering the destruction of the city. His is a common story of the Syrian revolution where many young people had to leave their educations and professions to take part in some way in the uprising. But Karam’s efforts to document the death of Aleppo has brought him to international attention as a photographer for Agence France-Presse.

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The Aleppo ProjectInterview with Aleppian photographer Karam Al-Masri

How Did Germany Rebuild After World War II?

by The Aleppo Project on October 15, 2015

 

Interview with Professor Jeffrey Diefendorf

Jeffrey Diefendorf  has written several books about the reconstruction of both Germany and Japan after World War II. The Pamela Shulman Professor in European and Holocaust Studies at the University of New Hampshire, he has looked at the way planning shaped the rebuilding of post-conflict societies. He is the author or editor of eight books, including In the Wake of War: The Reconstruction of German Cities after World War II, The Rebuilding of Europe’s Bombed Cities, Rebuilding Urban Japan after 1945, and Transnationalism and the German City.

His work on Germany examines how the country managed an extremely rapid urban regeneration in a decentralised manner. Different cities approached the problems in various ways, often depending on how their planning departments functioned before the war. In the longer-term, one issue has become clear. Those cities that used the historic street plans and maintained traditional urban density have become more attractive places that those that opened up urban space in a modernist way.

Professor Diefendorf is currently looking at whether cities that are destroyed in civil wars recover in different ways to those damaged by inter-state conflict.

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The Aleppo ProjectHow Did Germany Rebuild After World War II?