(Poland) Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (Photographs)

These are 80 year-old photographic film prints being released by the Warsaw-based POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, as per this article here by Ofer Aderet at Ha’aretz. As per Aderet, whose language I am cribbing below, the photographs were taken by Polish civilians.

One series was secretly shot by a Polish fireman, Z. Leszka Grzywaczewski, who was age 23 at the time. He was sent into the ghetto to extinguish fires set by the Germans suppressing the rebellion. His photographs represent Jews being rounded up by the Nazis to be sent to death; there are also photographs of Polish firefighters A second series was documented by a Polish engineer  Rudolf Damec outside the ghetto. They represent Polish civilians looking over the walls at the burning ghetto.

These are precious historical documents. Most Holocaust photographs were taken by the German perpetrators. Of note in these photographs are the point-of-view reflections of Polish bystander-civilians witnessing the Nazi genocide of the Jews. The bystander photographs are shot from behind. No faces are shown. I think they seem to register shock.

Much more to see here at the POLIN Museuem website from the Around Us a Sea of Fire exhibition of these photographs. More pictures from the exhibition are here.

About zjb

Zachary Braiterman is Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University. His specialization is modern Jewish thought and philosophical aesthetics. http://religion.syr.edu
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2 Responses to (Poland) Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (Photographs)

  1. dmf says:

    the walls are quite evocative

  2. dmf says:

    The story of the Oyneg Shabes archive. Between 1940 and 1943 a group of dedicated writers secretly recorded daily Jewish existence in the Warsaw Ghetto.https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001l94m

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