 Versailles, 1919: French banker Albert Kahn and his camera team are among the few photographers allowed inside the Hall of Mirrors for the treaty signing—an example of Kahn’s uncanny talent for documenting change. This program focuses on Kahn’s pictorial record of the war’s aftermath and the challenges of securing a true peace across Europe. Zeppelin-borne aerial footage conveys the scope of the destruction, while grave-digging and burial scenes evoke the staggering numbers of combatants killed. Other events and subjects include the influx of foreign workers that filled France’s labor void; the French occupation of the Rhineland; German breadlines and Paris dance-halls; and war monuments in London and Verdun. A BBC/Musée Albert-Kahn (Département des Hauts-de-Seine—France) Co-production. (52 minutes)
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