George Rodger
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George William Adam Rodger (19 March 1908 – 24 July 1995) was a British
photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...
noted for his work in Africa and for photographing the mass deaths at
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concent ...
at the end of the Second World War.


Life and career

Born in Hale, Cheshire, of Scottish and German descent, Rodger went to school at St. Bees School in
Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...
. He joined the
British Merchant Navy The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom and comprises the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguar ...
and sailed around the world. While sailing, Rodger wrote accounts of his travels and taught himself photography to illustrate his travelogues. He was unable to get his travel writing published; after a short spell in the United States, where he failed to find work during the Depression, Rodger returned to Britain in 1936. In London, he found work as a photographer for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
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's '' The Listener'' magazine. In 1938 he had a brief stint working for the Black Star Agency. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Rodger had a strong urge to chronicle the war. His photographs of
the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...
gained him a job as a war correspondent for ''
Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'' magazine, based in the United States. Rodger covered the war in West Africa extensively and, towards the end of the war, followed the Allies' liberation of France, Belgium and Netherlands. He also covered the retreat of the British forces in Burma. He was probably the only British war reporter/photographer allowed to write a story on the
Burma Road The Burma Road () was a road linking Burma (now known as Myanmar) with southwest China. Its terminals were Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. It was built while Burma was a British colony to convey supplies to China during the Second Sino ...
by travelling on it into China, with special permission from the Chinese military. Rodger was one of many photographers to enter the
concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
at
Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentrati ...
in 1945, the first being members of the British
Army Film and Photographic Unit The Army Film and Photographic Unit was a subdivision of the British armed forces set up on 24 October 1941, to record military events in which the British and Commonwealth armies was engaged. During the war, almost 23 percent of all AFPU soldier ...
. His photographs of the survivors and piles of corpses were published in ''Life'' and ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazines and were highly influential in showing the reality of the death camps. Rodger later recalled how, after spending several hours at the camp, he was appalled to realise that he had spent most of the time looking for graphically pleasing compositions of the piles of bodies lying among the trees and buildings. This traumatic experience led Rodger to conclude that he could not work as a war correspondent again. Leaving ''Life'', he travelled throughout Africa and the Middle East, continuing to document these areas' wildlife and peoples. Africa. Cameroons. Giant cranes like these jutting up over the construction work on the Eda dam have given Africa a... - NARA - 541655.tif, Cameroon, ca.1950 Africa. French Equatorial Africa. The old and the new - almost. The "wheelbarrow express" transports loads of... - NARA - 541650.tif, French Equatorial Africa, ca.1950 Netherlands. Land reclamation in Holland with help of Marshall Plan Funds - NARA - 541707.tif,
Flevoland Flevoland () is the twelfth and youngest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the countr ...
, ca.1950 Netherlands. (An additional 480 square miles is being reclaimed with the aid of Marshall Plan counterpart fund. This... - NARA - 541710.tif, Flevoland, ca,1950


Founding member of Magnum Photos and work in Africa

In 1947, Rodger became a founding member of
Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...
. Over the next thirty years, he worked as a freelance photographer, taking on many expeditions and assignments to photograph the people, landscape and nature of African nations. Much of Rodger's photojournalism in Africa was published in ''
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
'' as well as other magazines and newspapers. His photographs made in 1948 and 1949 of
indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
of the
Nuba mountains The Nuba Mountains ( ar, جبال النوبة), also referred to as the Nuba Hills, is an area located in South Kordofan, Sudan. The area is home to a group of indigenous ethnic groups known collectively as the Nuba peoples. In the Middle Ages, ...
, in the Sudanese province of
Kordofan Kordofan ( ar, كردفان ') is a former province of central Sudan. In 1994 it was divided into three new federal states: North Kordofan, South Kordofan and West Kordofan. In August 2005, West Kordofan State was abolished and its territory di ...
, and the
Latuka The Otuho people, also known as the Lotuko or Latuka, are a Nilotic peoples, Nilotic ethnic group whose traditional home is the Eastern Equatoria state of South Sudan. some of their villages are Oronyo, Oudo, Angario, Tirangore, Hiyala, Obira, Abal ...
and other tribes of southern Sudan, have been called "some of the most historically important and influential images taken in sub-Saharan Africa during the twentieth century". As Rodger wrote several years later, "When we came to leave the Nuba Jebels (mountains), we took with us only memories of a people ... so much more hospitable, chivalrous and gracious than many of us who live in the 'Dark Continents' outside Africa." In 1951, Rodger published his
photo essay A photographic essay or photo-essay for short is a form of visual storytelling, a way to present a narrative through a series of images. A photo essay delivers a story using a series of photographs and brings the viewer along a narrative journey. E ...
on the Nuba and Latuka also in ''National Geographic''. - In the 1960s, his pictures prompted controversial German photographer and filmmaker
Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda. A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...
to travel to the Nuba mountains for her own photo stories on the
Nuba people The Nuba people are indigenous inhabitants of central Sudan. Nuba are various indigenous ethnic groups who inhabit the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan state in Sudan, encompassing multiple distinct people that speak different languages which b ...
. A retrospective exhibition of Rodger's work was held at
Imperial War Museum North Imperial War Museum North (sometimes referred to as IWM North) is a museum in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester, England. One of five branches of the Imperial War Museum, it explores the impact of modern conflicts on pe ...
in 2008.


Marriage, family

Rodger's first wife, Cicely, who travelled extensively with him in Africa, died during childbirth in 1949. In 1952, he married his American assistant Lois "Jinx" Witherspoon and the pair had two sons, one of whom,
Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...
, became a filmmaker in Britain. He was the grandfather of Elliot Rodger, the perpetrator of the 2014 Isla Vista killings in California, United States, where he killed six people and injured fourteen others before committing suicide.


Publications

* ''Red Moon Rising.''
Cresset A cresset is a metal cup or basket, often mounted to or suspended from a pole, containing oil, pitch, a rope steeped in rosin or something flammable. They are burned as a light or beacon. Cressets mounted on the walls of Renaissance palaces in ...
Press, 1943. * ''Desert Journey.'' Cresset, 1944. * ''Village des Noubas.'' 1955. * ''Le Sahara.'' 1957. * ''George Rodger: Humanity and Inhumanity.'' 1994. *''
Nuba The Nuba people are indigenous inhabitants of central Sudan. Nuba are various indigenous ethnic groups who inhabit the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan state in Sudan, encompassing multiple distinct people that speak different languages which b ...
and
Latuka The Otuho people, also known as the Lotuko or Latuka, are a Nilotic peoples, Nilotic ethnic group whose traditional home is the Eastern Equatoria state of South Sudan. some of their villages are Oronyo, Oudo, Angario, Tirangore, Hiyala, Obira, Abal ...
. The Colour Photographs''. Prestel, Munich, Germany 2017, . *''Southern Sudan.'' Stanley Barker, 2018.


References


External links


Magnum biography
* Sampl
portfolio of Rodger's WWII photographsBrunei Gallery
Samples of Rodger's African photographs
The Nuba Mountains HomepageGeorge Rodger photographs
at
International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodger, George 1908 births 1995 deaths British people of Scottish descent British people of German descent Magnum photographers Photographers from Cheshire War photographers British sailors People from Hale, Greater Manchester Photography in Myanmar Holocaust photographers Photography in Africa British war correspondents Photography in Sudan Expatriate photographers in Sudan