Nadine Jansen Friends

wives and lovers

Wives and Sweethearts
National Army Museum, London
February 2011

It's just a room where the exhibition Wives and Sweethearts - see Love on the Front Line in National Army Museum in London . In addition to photos, drawings and postcards, it is primarily letters that are shown. It is intended that by using sound recordings to show how it is to unite as a soldier, family life and on the front lines. The time frame that is covered here, stretches of 19 Century to the present. Courtship and Engagement , Weddings , Army Families , Separation and Reunion - thematically, the exhibition is very comprehensive. Particularly interesting is the part Women of the Regiment , is shown in the way women in the 19 Century accompanied their husbands to the front - where it enjoyed far more freedoms than in everyday life at home.

Although in the parts Separation and Reunion also raised critical issues (such as the alienation that can occur after months of separation), but overall the show had a somewhat more critical view is not harmed. To relations between British soldiers and native women in Africa or Asia, for example, lacked any hint. And the dark side of Love in War - prostitution or rape - were missing entirely here. Had it been possible to extend the concept of the exhibition so that these issues would have found room? Maybe. Whether such a critical look at the National Army Museum in a country where the soldiers are still in the "war hero" called, would be desirable? I'm not sure. The exhibition can

be seen here online .