Across Europe’s Borders
W–078
On the night of 27-28 August 2015, a group of refugees spent several hours hiding in an apple orchard near the Serbian-Hungarian border. They were looking for a way through the new fence while trying to avoid police patrols. Australian photographer Warren Richardson was with them. He recalled a group of around two hundred people, including adults carrying babies.
Richardson later told WePresent that he had lived and travelled with refugees for about two months and spent five nights at the Serbian-Hungarian border. He recalled six Syrian engineers who stayed by the fence while the others passed underneath and were the last to leave.
At around three in the morning on 28 August, near Röszke, a baby was passed through the wire to a man on the Hungarian side. Richardson photographed the moment by moonlight: he said a flash would have alerted the police. World Press Photo identifies the man receiving the baby as a Syrian refugee, but its catalogue does not give their names or establish their relationship.
From 15 September, Hungary began enforcing new rules that sharply restricted crossings from Serbia. UNHCR reported around three thousand people stranded near Horgoš. On 16 September, Hungarian police used tear gas and water cannons against people at the border, including families with children. The agency called on European governments to change course and ensure access to asylum procedures.
People began travelling through Croatia. In Tovarnik, they tried to board trains to Zagreb; later, after Hungary also closed its Croatian border, large groups passed through Slovenia towards Austria. Sergey Ponomarev photographed these crossings for The New York Times. People were still arriving on Lesbos by sea - he photographed one such landing in November 2015.
The sources cited here do not document what happened next to the baby or the man in Richardson’s photograph. In February 2016, the image won World Press Photo’s top award. Richardson told TIME that he hoped to find the man and hear his account of that night.
Photographs and documents
1. Through the fence
Sources and provenance for frame 1
Photographer: Warren Richardson. Date, place and the receiving man’s Syrian origin follow World Press Photo. Names and relationship are not established. The catalogue records a 1/5-second exposure and ISO 6400; the photographer describes working by moonlight without flash. Motion blur and grain are present in the source file. The exposure was made in 2015; the top award followed in 2016. The complete public 2362 × 1575 px file is preserved unchanged. No free licence is stated.
SourceWorld Press PhotoFile on WITNESS · 2362 × 15752. The queue in Preševo
Sources and provenance for frame 2
Photographer: Sergey Ponomarev. From the series Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis, which won first prize in General News Stories at World Press Photo in 2016. The exposure date follows the catalogue; embedded author IPTC/EXIF metadata clarifies the location. These people are not identified as the baby or man in Richardson’s image. The complete public 5000 × 3337 px file is preserved unchanged. No free licence is stated.
SourceWorld Press PhotoFile on WITNESS · 5000 × 33373. At the closed border
Sources and provenance for frame 3
Photographer: Sergey Ponomarev. From the series Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis, which won first prize in General News Stories at World Press Photo in 2016. The exposure date follows the catalogue; embedded author IPTC/EXIF metadata clarifies the location. These people are not identified as the baby or man in Richardson’s image. The complete public 5000 × 3337 px file is preserved unchanged. No free licence is stated.
SourceWorld Press PhotoFile on WITNESS · 5000 × 33374. A train to Zagreb
Sources and provenance for frame 4
Photographer: Sergey Ponomarev. From the series Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis, which won first prize in General News Stories at World Press Photo in 2016. The exposure date follows the catalogue; embedded author IPTC/EXIF metadata clarifies the location. These people are not identified as the baby or man in Richardson’s image. The complete public 5000 × 3337 px file is preserved unchanged. No free licence is stated.
SourceWorld Press PhotoFile on WITNESS · 5000 × 33375. Crossing into Slovenia
Sources and provenance for frame 5
Photographer: Sergey Ponomarev. From the series Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis, which won first prize in General News Stories at World Press Photo in 2016. The exposure date follows the catalogue; embedded author IPTC/EXIF metadata clarifies the location. These people are not identified as the baby or man in Richardson’s image. The complete public 5000 × 3337 px file is preserved unchanged. No free licence is stated.
SourceWorld Press PhotoFile on WITNESS · 5000 × 33376. A column near Dobova
Sources and provenance for frame 6
Photographer: Sergey Ponomarev. From the series Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis, which won first prize in General News Stories at World Press Photo in 2016. The exposure date follows the catalogue; embedded author IPTC/EXIF metadata clarifies the location. These people are not identified as the baby or man in Richardson’s image. The complete public 5000 × 3337 px file is preserved unchanged. No free licence is stated.
SourceWorld Press PhotoFile on WITNESS · 5000 × 33377. An evening crossing
Sources and provenance for frame 7
Photographer: Sergey Ponomarev. From the series Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis, which won first prize in General News Stories at World Press Photo in 2016. The exposure date follows the catalogue; embedded author IPTC/EXIF metadata clarifies the location. These people are not identified as the baby or man in Richardson’s image. The complete public 5000 × 3337 px file is preserved unchanged. No free licence is stated.
SourceWorld Press PhotoFile on WITNESS · 5000 × 33378. Waiting for an escort
Sources and provenance for frame 8
Photographer: Sergey Ponomarev. From the series Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis, which won first prize in General News Stories at World Press Photo in 2016. The exposure date follows the catalogue; embedded author IPTC/EXIF metadata clarifies the location. These people are not identified as the baby or man in Richardson’s image. The complete public 5000 × 3337 px file is preserved unchanged. No free licence is stated.
SourceWorld Press PhotoFile on WITNESS · 5000 × 33379. Landing on Lesbos
Sources and provenance for frame 9
Photographer: Sergey Ponomarev. From the series Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis, which won first prize in General News Stories at World Press Photo in 2016. The exposure date follows the catalogue; embedded author IPTC/EXIF metadata clarifies the location. These people are not identified as the baby or man in Richardson’s image. The complete public 5000 × 3337 px file is preserved unchanged. No free licence is stated.
SourceWorld Press PhotoFile on WITNESS · 5000 × 3337