Zbąszyń photographs

Identifier
irn515678
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 1991.217
Dates
1 Jan 1938 - 31 Dec 1938
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

folder

1

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Roman Vishniac was born in 1897 in St. Petersburg, Russia and was educated in the Universities of Moscow and Berlin. From 1933 to 1939, he traveled throughout eastern Europe--Russia, Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, and Lithuania--photographing Jewish communities. He was arrested and imprisoned repeatedly by police who suspected him of photographing Jews. Of the sixteen thousand images he took, two thousand negatives still exist. Vishniac's photographs were made with a hidden Leica camera which he wrapped a handkerchief around and exposed the film as he wiped his brow. He also used a concealed Rollei or 2-1/4 x 2-1/4 camera. The Rollei was kept under his coat with the lens protruding through an enlargened button hole.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Nettie Katz. My parents, sister and brother. Regina and Moritz in Zbaszyn, Poland, 1938. My husband died 1987. Born in Meltrngen Germanu and was in Riga. Sigfried Katz.

Created by Roman Vishniac in 1938 in Zbąszyń́, Poland. This collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Nettie Katz in 1991.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of six photographs of Jewish refugees from Germany on the Polish-German border in Zbąszyń, Poland. On the verso, stamped by Roman Vishniac.

People

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.