<div>Hello, my name is Steven Ryan, the photographer, author, and founder of "The Necessary War" project and book. Since 2018 I have been on a mission to teach World War II and Holocaust history to the world through photography. This has been a two-part project. The first part has been photographing the cemeteries, battlefields, memorials, and concentration camps throughout the world. The immensely more personal part has been interviewing and doing portraits with the Veterans, Holocaust Survivors and Homefront Workers that we are lucky enough to still have with us.
</div>
<div><br />
</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/71582087_1697640289835230_r." width="100%" />
<div><em>Normandy American Cemetery</em>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The number of living Veterans and Holocaust Survivors are decreasing enormously every day. When the research for this project began in 2017, approximately 620,000 United States WWII veterans were alive. That number is estimated around 110,000 today and will continue to dwindle every day until none remain with us. A widely accepted phrase for Holocaust education is the term “Never Again”. Many survivors and the men who liberated the horrific concentration camps of Europe would agree with that statement. Do we really believe in this?
</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/71582087_1697640767337224_r." width="100%" /><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/71582087_1697641005829503_r." width="100%" />
<div><em>I saw the most amazing sight that I could ever remember and I could still vividly remember is today, the lines of ships looked like there were so many there were like 700 ships over that period of week, back and forth from England to Normandy beaches it looked like you could step from one ship to the next. It was just a remarkable sight.</em>
</div>
<div><em>-Jim Frolking, 436th Fighter Squadron</em>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The Necessary War photo project is an enormous endeavor to create a photo book and educational platform dedicated to the history of World War II and the Holocaust. To this point I have been honored to take the portrait of 190 heroes who have been willing to participate. It is their willingness to share some of the stories from the worst and most difficult parts of their lives that has inspired me to continue this work. One of my main inspirations for this mission was my grandmother’s Holocaust survival story. Born into an Italian-Jewish family, she survived by spending her weekdays at a convent and her weekends amongst the crowds with her mother and sister attempting to remain hidden from the Nazi’s. They were once caught at home by the S.S., but my great-grandmother's quick thinking and wittiness is the only reason any of my family or I exist today.
</div>
<div><br />
</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/71582087_1697640859396590_r." width="100%" />
<div><em> Auschwitz-Birkenau</em>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>So why is this fundraiser being started? Because I simply can no longer afford the expenses of the project. I am about 6 years into this work, which has been funded nearly 100% out of my own pocket. There is still so much more to do, yet I need your help to complete the work. One of my promises to the veterans is to send them a framed copy of their portrait after I meet with them. That alone has cost over $1,500 in supplies and shipping costs this year. The amount of money spent thus far on gas, car rentals, hotels, airfare, car maintenance, etc. to conduct this project is incalculable and is well into the tens of thousands. I still have the vast Pacific Theater to document in order to honor the sacrifices made and the brutality faced on that side of the globe.
</div>
<div><br />
</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/71582087_169764154444347_r." width="100%" /><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/71582087_1697641710789359_r." width="100%" />
<div><em>“So, four o’clock, on the 29th of April, I’m in line. I pick up the soup for myself and I say, this is for him, and they gave me another bowl of soup, and another piece of bread. And I’m going to him, and he takes the soup, and at that moment, the prisoners are shouting, ‘The Americans are here, we are free!’</em>
</div>
<div><em>- Elly Gotz, Holocaust Survivor</em>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Why is this project so important?
</div>
<div>Because we believe in the freedom, we hold so dear. Because we cannot let the stories of the past fade with time. Because we believe the World War II and Holocaust needs to be learned and known by our children and adults alike. Watching the terrorist attacks on Israel on the ensuing war with Gaza shows us what hate can still do to a society today, why this project is so important, why I am spending such an incredible amount of time and money traveling the world and I am asking for your donation.
</div>
<div><br />
</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/71582087_1697640926609036_r." width="100%" />
<div><em>- Luxembourg American Cemetery on the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge</em>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>This idea of a photo project or to interview veterans and survivors is by no means unique. There have been portrait projects, photo essays on Europe and the Pacific today, and there are countless organizations interviewing our veterans and survivors. What makes this project and book so special and unlike anything done before, is it will bring together all these efforts in one encompassing project and book to serve as an educational platform for years to come to teach not only the youth of today, but the people of all generations for decades to come using the visual medium of photography and video.
</div>
<div><br />
</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/71582087_1697640948289723_r." width="100%" /><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/71582087_169764376394671_r." width="100%" />
<div><em>"I had never shot anyone before. People think they can walk around with a gun and shoot somebody, that it's easy, it's not." </em>
</div>
<div><em>- Louis Dworkin, 75th Infantry Division</em>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>There are still veterans and survivors across the country and the world whose stories should be documented on the pages of this book and as part of this project. Important trips still need to be made in order to document the testimonies of these heroes both in the United States and around the globe. Funding will help to document the battlefields on the forgotten front of my grandmother’s home country, Italy. The gargantuan task your donations will help to make happen, is two trips to the Pacific to document the battlefields and cemetery there. Important locations on the Pacific front include Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the Philippines, Saipan, Guam, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.
</div>
<div><br />
</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/71582087_1697640974175834_r." width="100%" /><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/71582087_1697643645765390_r." width="100%" />
<div>"He loved his wife.... It was another guy who told me, your buddy got killed last night. I said who? He said, Rochelle, Herman, and I just crumbled. I said no man, no not Herm, I just went to my knees, I was hurting. He wanted to live, he wanted to live so badly. It just crushed me."
</div>
<div><em>- Ray Robinson, 92nd Infantry Division</em>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Your donations are greatly needed to help with the travel expenses to all these places such as airfare, car rentals, hotels, gas, and car maintenance. It will help to make sure equipment is repaired and maintained. It will help cover the expenses of getting this book published to teach the world about this important period of history. It will help to get interviews of our survivors and veterans published online for all to learn from. It will provide me the ability to begin speaking around the world to teach the lessons to be learned from our World War II Veterans and Holocaust Survivors.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Please help with a donation today, so that this mission to teach about what hate and war did to our planet during World War II, and why we must work to end war and hate today can be accomplished.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Thank you
</div>
<div>-Steven Ryan
</div>

Velma Singleton

Lew Harriman

Yosaida Santana

Tamara Souriolle

Susan Webber

Mary Mackey

Nikolette Baniewicz

Anonymous

Jamie Solomon

Patricia Kennedy

Vicki Boquist

Hannah Limon

The Necessary War - A WWII Photo Book and Project

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

currencyCode

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

Influencer - Prod

US fundraisers and US users

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

The Necessary War - A WWII Photo Book and Project

Still $59,235 to go. Help us build momentum.