The Geographical Society of Philadelphia’s 130th season continues with an Eastern Europe expert, a photographer from the Netherlands, Casper Molenaar.

During his studies, Casper bought a second-hand photo book of his beloved region featuring 192 photos by celebrated German photographer, Kurt Hielscher (1881-1948), of a country that no longer exists: Yugoslavia. Kurt Hielscher indeed was a celebrated photographer during the interbellum period, but he also fell into oblivion after WWII. For Casper, that became the starting point of a new adventure.

Then and Now: In the Footsteps of Kurt Hielscher, Casper travels to the locations of the original photographs and tries to recreate the photos of almost a century ago. He learns about the histories of the places in the photos and discovers just how much things have changed from the ravages of time or, in some cases, how much they’ve stayed the same. He dives into the person and life of Kurt Hielscher and meets others interested in his work both on and offline.

Casper also gained the remaining photo books by Kurt Hielscher from countries like Spain, Germany, and Italy. His hobby got out of hand and his journey is far from over.

For 13 years Casper has been working as a relationship manager with volunteers within UNICEF The Netherlands. Together with his wife Kim (42) and sons Bouke (12) and Siebe (10) he travels around Europe, mainly in a campervan during summer and wintertime. They support him but sometimes they get enough of his quests, a project that over the years came to a standstill every now and then because of personal difficulties and currently due to a pandemic.

To learn more about Casper’s projects please visit his following Facebook pages:

• In the Footsteps of Kurt Hielscher – Facebook Page

• Yugoslavia 1926 Present in the Footsteps of Kurt Hielscher

Upon your registration, you will receive a Zoom link for November 14, 2 PM (America/NYC)