Combat photography exhibit opens at KSU History and Holocaust Museum

Feb. 5—When Rachel Copeland joined the U.S. Army and became a combat photographer, she had no idea how dangerous the job she had signed up for was.

"I watched a training video of people at war, and the instructors are like 'you are going to shoot these videos,'" Copeland said. "What you fail to realize is that you are actually at war. Everything you are photographing is actually happening to you."

The Museum of History and Holocaust Education at Kennesaw State University has opened a new exhibit to showcase the work of Copeland and fellow combat photographer Amber Stephens.

Copeland attended the event in-person and, before the opening of her and Stephens' new Local Heroes exhibit, talked with the crowd of about 30 about her time as an Army photographer. Stephens attended the event virtually.

Copeland owes her success as a combat photojournalist to the 982nd Combat Camera Command Unit. She didn't know she wanted to be a photojournalist until the Army gave her that opportunity, she said.

Once she got to work and learned just how perilous the job can be, she said she had to simply focus on any good thing she could conjure up in her mind to distract herself from the grisly reality of war.

Her fear of injury came to pass during a tour of duty in Iraq, when she was ejected from an Army vehicle that was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED). Copeland would later receive a Purple Heart medal, which is given to service members who have been wounded or killed as a result of enemy action while serving in the U.S. military.

Copeland is a resident of LaGrange, Georgia, and her stepdaughter attends KSU.

After she spoke, the Local Heroes exhibition officially opened with a ceremony where Copeland and Ryan Green, a member of Copeland's 982nd Combat Camera Command Unit, cut the ribbon together.

The event also featured a poetry reading from Brad Dalton, a Kennesaw State alumnus and founder of New Creation Pottery. His wife, Katlyn, authored the two poems he read, which were written from the eyes of Adolf Hitler and Anne Frank, respectively.

After the ribbon cutting, attendees toured the museum, including its Holocaust exhibits. Among those attendees was Hank Van Driel, a resident of Decatur who is originally from the Netherlands and has an exhibit in the museum.

Van Driel had just turned six years old when the Germans invaded his home country on May 10, 1940, which was Van Driel's birthday. His family endured Nazi occupation for five years until the Allied forces liberated the Netherlands in May of 1945, just a few days shy of Van Driel's 11th birthday. As he got older, Van Driel became a chef and traveled around Europe for work until he decided to move to the U.S. to advance his career.

Speaking with the MDJ, Van Driel described how harsh the conditions were when he and his family of seven lived through Nazi occupation during his childhood. According to Van Driel, there were no cats or dogs walking around the streets of his neighborhood because they had all been eaten after it became too difficult for people to obtain rations from the Germans.

The event was put together by Adina Langer, the curator of the Holocaust Museum, and David Rust, a Holocaust Museum intern and veteran photojournalist.

"I've just always had an interest in connecting people with history," Langer said. "I'm interested in how people experience the world and how change happens over time. I think (the Holocaust Museum) is a tremendous service to the community, and I am so honored to be able to work with so many people who want to preserve history and carry it forward."