Selections of a private, wartime photo and film collection will be on view for the first time in Malta on 6 October during Notte Bianca – Lejl Imdawwal. The exhibition highlights the war experience as seen through the camera lens of British gunner Stan Fraser. Although the siege of Malta during World War II is well documented, there is room for more insights into this period of Maltese history, a time that had great impact on all aspects of society.
Witness to War – A British gunner’s photo and film documentation of WWII in Malta, offers not only photo and film scenes from the gunner’s collection but also personal insights and observations of a soldier during wartime through excerpts from his personal wartime diaries. They were written between 1939 and 1945 and published in 2005 under the title, The Guns of Hagar Qim.
When Fraser arrived at Grand Harbour in July 1941, he was a young man of 26 with just over a year’s wartime service behind him. He had many years of scouting experience behind him too, and it was this experience that he would draw on during his tour of duty in Malta for the benefit of his fellow soldiers. His team spirit, organisational abilities and personal initiative, endowed him with the qualities of a leader and an officer long before he earned his first stripe.
But Fraser was also a photographer, and it was his keen interest in documenting events that brought him in conflict with his superiors in Malta. In 1942, the events leading up to his trial for taking photographs without authorisation and breaching military censorship rules effectively delayed his attainment of a commission till the last year of the war. Today, we can be thankful to his devotion to his hobby, which included both photography and the taking of cine film. Despite the shortage of film supplies in Malta, Fraser recorded some 79 minutes of 8mm film, and over 500 photos were taken in Malta and Gozo from July 1941 till he set sail for Alexandria with his regiment in December 1943.
Today, Fraser lives in North Wales with his wife Peggy. In October, and thanks to the support of the Farsons Foundation, he will make a copy of his photo and film collection available to the National Archives of Malta. This will be Stan Fraser’s second donation to Malta. The first took place 15 years ago when he presented four 3.7 inch heavy anti-aircraft guns to the Armed Forces of Malta.
The photo and video materials for the exhibition are being prepared and brought to Malta by Veronica Galea on behalf of Stan Fraser. Witness to War is made possible through the support of the Ministry for Tourism and Culture, the George Cross Island Association and the Gasan Group.