Friedrich’s anti-war book still shocks

Soldiers of the English infantry in France, running out of their trenches at the signal to assault at the Somme. Photograph: Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images

Paul Mason, discussing whether graphic portrayal of its gruesome reality is an effective tactic in opposing war (The closer I get to conflict, the more I think showing gruesome images can never deter war, G2, 24 November), refers to Ernst Friedrich’s famous anti-war museum in Berlin, which was closed by the Nazis in 1933. Friedrich’s grandson, Tommy Spree, reopened the museum in 1982; he and the museum are still there today, at Brüsseler Str 21 (in Berlin’s Wedding district). For those readers who are interested in the gruesome side, Friedrich’s shocking 1924 book War Against War! – which Paul Mason also describes – is available in print again in English. It was republished by Spokesman Books earlier this year.
Albert Beale
Editor, Housmans World Peace Database