In Search of “My Beloved Pauline” examines German imperialism in West Asia before and during World War I through the lens of a vernacular photo album entitled Meine Liebe Pauline, zur Erinnerung an Türkei-Kleinasien 1917/18 (My Beloved Pauline, in Memory of Turkey-Asia Minor, 1917/18). [1] This album, created by an unidentified German military officer stationed in Anatolia, contains personal snapshots dedicated to a distant “beloved Pauline.” In stark contrast to this romantic dedication, the album also serves as a documentary of German military and colonial operations in West Asia. It captures significant events such as the Armenian genocide in Şebinkarahisar, [2] the smuggling of Anatolian archaeological artifacts in Değirmentaş, and the construction of the Baghdad Railway in Ulukışla. [3]

The Baghdad Railway, a major German colonial project funded by Deutsche Bank, aimed to connect Berlin to Baghdad, from which Imperial Germany sought to establish a port on the Persian Gulf. [4] The railway was planned to pass through the modern-day borders of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. This connection would provide the German Empire with a direct link to its colonies in Africa, including German East Africa (Rwanda, Burundi, and mainland Tanzania) and German South-West Africa (Namibia). [5] This previously unexplored vernacular photo album reveals obscured narratives about its time’s social, cultural, and political dimensions.

It highlights how everyday photography emerged as a significant form of visual communication in the early twentieth century. The historical evolution of photography is deeply intertwined with West Asia, where it was introduced by European colonizers as a vital tool to document archaeological findings. [6] The region’s extensive daylight made the production of photographs easier and faster, establishing West Asia as one of the early centers for photographic practice, where its technical development became inextricably linked with its use as a colonial tool of mapping and surveying.

The German officer’s use of this medium to connect with his partner Pauline highlights the interplay between personal and colonial narratives. Thus, the album functions as both a personal keepsake and a historical record of German colonial and military activities in West Asia, bridging the gap between everyday life and monumental historical events. In Search of “My Beloved Pauline” explores and tells these intertwined stories, providing a unique perspective on colonial history and personal experience.

The meticulously crafted calligraphy of the album’s captions and the thoughtfully composed arrangements reflect the officer’s dedication to documenting his journey and mission for his beloved. The album features detailed photographs of cities, local people, and interactions with fellow German military officers, as well as meetings with allied figures such as Kaiser Karl of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Ottoman officials like Enver Pasha, the highest ranking perpetrator of the Armenian genocide. However, a closer examination beyond the officer’s captions and official figures unveils more gruesome aspects: panoramic views of ravaged Armenian villages, architectural shots of soon-to-be-demolished Greek churches, and Kurdish individuals forced to pose in traditional attires. These photographs reveal the intersection of the German Empire’s Orientalist views with its military operations through the lens of an amateur photographer, offering a rare glimpse into how marginalized groups were perceived and represented at the time through this handcrafted vernacular photo album. Here, I weave together vernacular photographs from the album with new photographs I captured in 2024 while retracing the military officer’s path, which I mapped using the album’s contents. Through this approach, I aim to interrogate these vernacular images and uncover the collective histories and memories obscured by official historical narratives and their actors, including those of the album’s amateur photographer.

Hande Sever is a writer and research-based artist from Istanbul, currently based in Los Angeles. Her work delves into the excavation of lost texts and distant images, examining how their production and dissemination shape historical revisionism and archival practices. Grounded in theories of sovereignty and necropolitics, Sever’s research interrogates the ways historical narratives are manipulated, particularly in contexts of military violence, surveillance, and censorship. Often drawing on her family’s history of persecution, her lens-based practice explores the intersection of personal and collective memory, uncovering how visual culture both erases and constructs historical narratives. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Art History, Theory, and Criticism program, with a concentration in Art Practice, at the University of California San Diego and a recipient of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ 2025 Arts Writers Grant.