Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Rodger fue el único fotógrafo independiente británico que pudo tomar fotografías de la liberación de los campos de concentración, realizando una dura crónica de guerra. Rodger fue el primer fotógrafo en entrar en el campo de concentración de Bergen-Belsen en 1945. Sus fotografías de los supervivientes y de las pilas de cuerpos muertos fueron publicadas en Life y en Time y sirvieron para mostrar la realidad de los campos de concentración, los campos de la muerte.
Sus fotografías del Blitz le dio fama para tener un trabajo como corresponsal de guerra en Life. Él cubrió las guerras del Oeste de África y el fin de ella, siguiendo la independencia aliada de Francia, Bélgica y Holanda.
Para Rodger, las guerras se convirtieron en una experiencia traumática no pudiendo volver a trabajar como corresponsal de guerra.1
Algunas imágenes
BURMA. Emergency hospital run by Doctor Seagrove set up in a school building. Wounded soldiers from the Chinese Army are treated by Burmese nurses. 1942.
G.B. ENGLAND. London. Steel helmets were worn by all who could get them. Life in London during The Blitz of World War II in1939-40. 1940.
G.B. ENGLAND. London. Westminster. Whitehall. Hitler’s Doom effigy outside the Free French headquarters at 4 Carleton Gardens. Life in London during The Blitz of World War II in 1939-40. 1940.
UGANDA. Pygmies. «Dance of the forest people». The Bachimbiri and Wagasero dance their own version of a courting dance, the «Kamundere», before a semi-circle of men of the tribes who kneel before them. 1948.
SOUTH AFRICA. Basutoland(Lesotho). Young Basuto boy wrapped in blankets against the cold on the Thaba Bosiu (Mountain of the Night). 1947. In 1868 Sir Philip Woodehouse, Govenor of of the Cape Colony was authorised to recognise King Moshesh and his Basuto followers as British Subjects. Therby Basutoland became the first of the High Commission territories in South Africa to some under colonial rule. In the past Basutoland was the scene of much tribal fghting, centering around the mountain of Thaba Bosieu (Mountain of the Night).
SUDAN. A gathering of the Nuba tribe in the Korongo Jebels (mountians). The Nubas pride themselves as wrestlers, their tribal sport. They are powdered in wood ash so they can get a grip of each other. 1949.
HAITI. Port-au-Prince. Young Haitian girl. 1950.
INDONESIA. BALI. Ubud. Young girl in Ubud marketplace. 1953
JORDAN. Emir Abdullah playing chess.1941.
Africa. Sudan. Aluma Plateau. 1954. Line of Bari women.
ALGERIA, 1957. Through the windscreen on route to In-Salah.
ALGERIA. Sahara. Palmeries of Kerzaz near the Great Western Erg. 1957.
BURMA. Shan States. World War II. A bamboo house built on stilts on Inle Lake. 1942.
INDONESIA. Bali. Two young Balineese girls rest by rice paddies under the sacred mountain Gunung Agung near the village of Iseh. 1953.
