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Faces of WW I

    An exhibition at the “Dental Museum” in Vienna ( Feb 21 – November 27 2014)

    Moulage (French: casting/moulding) is the art of applying mock injuries for the purpose of training Emergency Response Teams and other medical and military personnel. (Wikipedia)  The photos show moulages from the collection of Julian Zilz, who was a military doctor. They date from 1915 – 1918. They not only show terrible injuries from machine-guns, hand grenades and other terrible inventions of war as never seen before, but also medical treatment at the beginning of the 20th century.Not only were people heavily traumatized by war itself, their injuries and treatments made them to outsiders as well. The way the moulages are presented pays respect to these real people and their terrible fate. It is a very strong message about what war does to mankind.

     I had the honor to get a private tour through the museum by DDr.  Johannes Kirchner from the University of Medicine, Vienna. He had turned rooms  jammed with all kinds of things into the museum as it is today.
    The museum is worth a visit!! The development of dental treatment from the early 19th century is well documented with all kinds of sometimes very scary looking – tools.You can also see the first X- ray machine.  The treatment took 7 to 8 minutes and a high voltage transmission line ran along a wall. The museum, of course. harbors many other things and is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m to 1 p.m.
    By the way, DDr. Kirchner is a musician as well. He is Baritone and music still plays an important part in his life. 

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