︎

Arne Piepke


︎︎︎Heroes, Beaches, Plastic Rifles
︎︎︎Anecdotes from an unfamiliar Land
︎︎︎Based on True Events
︎︎︎The Shape of F. S.
︎︎︎A Silent Bliss
︎︎︎A Year Along the Banks
︎Faith, Custom, Home


Commissions
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About




Dortmund/GER
mail@arnepiepke.de
+49 170 4848 723

︎
Dortmund/GER
mail@arnepiepke.de

︎

Three men in US uniforms are singing songs from the Second World War on a small stage in a camp at Saint-Mere-Eglaise. The performance highlights the role of chaplains in the US armed forces. Paratroopers from the German Bundeswehr during a parachute drop in Sainte-Mère-Église. The town is regarded as one of the key sites of the airborne landings on 6 June 1944, when US paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division jumped here. Today, US Airborne troops and re-enactors, among others, jump from C-47 aircraft in front of thousands of visitors and veterans. Re-enactors of a American airborne division are preparing for a demonstration in Sainte-Mère-Église. The village is regarded as one of the most famous symbols of the Allied airborne landings on D-Day. A figure of a paratrooper hangs from the church, commemorating the American soldier John Steele, who became entangled in the church tower with his parachute on the night of 5 June 1944 and survived the landing. The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial is the final resting place of 9,389 soldiers who fell during Operation Overlord.. On D-Day, re-enactors hold a commemorative ceremony at Omaha Beach. They portray US medics and, as part of the event, pay tribute to their efforts during the Normandy landings in 1944. A man in a German Wehrmacht camouflage uniform poses for a portrait in a camp in Vierville-sur-Mer during the D-Day Festival in Normandy. Camp Geronimo at the Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mère-Église is a historical re-enactment camp organised as part of the D-Day commemorations. The focus is on the vehicles and equipment used by the US airborne troops during the Second World War, complemented by displays of paratrooper operations. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at a commemorative event on 6 June at the American Cemetery in Normandy. In his speech, he sought to draw a connection between immigration and the anniversary of the Normandy landings, stating that Europe was facing a different kind of “invasion” of its shores. “Sadly, today, different European beaches are being stormed by different, dangerous ideologies,” he said in his speech. Portrait of a re-enactor portraying a soldier from the Filthy Thirteen Airborne. Airborne divisions were dropped by parachute behind enemy lines. During the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, the Airborne played a key role in the initial operations of D-Day. A man is examining original helmets from the German Wehrmacht dating from the Second World War at a stand at the Overlord Museum in Colleville-sur-Mer. During the Liberty March in Carentan, re-enactors depict what is known as the ‘Exodus’. The scene commemorates the flight of many civilians from the region during the fighting for Carentan in June 1944. A man in a US Army uniform from the Second World War poses for a portrait at the “Arca Never Forget” camp in Carentan. An M5 light tank in front of the Dead Man’s Corner Museum in Saint-Côme-du-Mont. The museum focuses on the battles for Carentan from a German perspective, particularly the position of the paratroopers of the 6th Parachute Regiment on June 6, 1944, when the Allied landings began. During the fighting, a man’s body was visible in the turret of a tank for several days, which led to the name “Dead Man’s Corner.” Translated with DeepL.com (free version) A man wearing a US Army uniform from the Second World War poses for a portrait in the church at Angoville-au-Plain. Bloodstains from the Second World War can still be seen on the pews today. Visitors to the Merville Battery Museum are viewing an original Douglas C-47 that took part in airborne operations on the European theatre of the Second World War. World War II veteran Paul Terry (100) poses for a portrait at Pegasus Bridge. He is wearing not only his own medals, but also those of his twin brother, who has since passed away and who also served in the Netherlands during the war. Tourists at Utah Beach in Normandy. During the Allied landings in Normandy in the Second World War, Utah Beach was the code name for a stretch of French coastline just under five kilometres long, between Pouppeville and La Madeleine. A washbasin with a mirror and shaving kit, displayed at a military camp in Vierville-sur-Mer as part of the D-Day Festival. A Canadian man displays the wooden stock of a rifle at the memorial service at the American Military Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, which has been signed by dozens of veterans. Members of the Dutch association ‘Keep Them Rolling’, which specialises in historical re-enactments of the Second World War, are having breakfast on the bonnet of a Willys MB US Army truck on the coast at Arromanches-les-Bains. The remains of the artificial Mulberry harbour off Arromanches-les-Bains are still visible today off the coast of Gold Beach. Built by the Allies shortly after D-Day, the harbour enabled the landing of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, vehicles and supplies, and is regarded as one of the greatest engineering feats of the Second World War. Dozens of tourists are queuing up at the site in Colleville-sur-Mer to get autographs and have their photos taken with veterans. A French man is portraying a Wehrmacht soldier at the Merville Battery Museum. As part of the D-Day Festival, both a German and a British camp are represented there. A woman poses for a mobile phone photo taken by someone else next to a German 15-cm gun. The German ‘Widerstandsnest 48 (Wn 48)’ in Longues-sur-Mer was built during the Second World War to defend against a sea invasion.

Heroes, Beaches, Plastic Rifles

2026
On 6 June 1944, the Allies landed on the beaches of Normandy. Around 4,400 soldiers died that day. Yet the liberation of Europe from Nazi Germany had begun.
82 years later, thousands of tourists come to the same beaches, visit memorials and events, buy souvenirs or re-enact the war.

“Heroes, Beaches, Plastic Rifles” follows the D-Day Festival in Normandy and the region as a multifaceted setting of remembrance, tourism and spectacle.
Amidst veterans, re-enactors and tourists, different forms of remembrance overlap. Here, history is not only remembered, but also performed and consumed.
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