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Kulturdokument für Adolf Hitler” (The Warsaw Ghetto. A cultural document for Adolf Hitler). 5 Such contextual
information, which does not always accompany Internet resources, are crucial to understanding how and
why this collection of photographs was taken, why it may have survived, and certainly provides valuable
insight into the gaze of the photographer. Yad Vashem’s accompanying educator resources makes this
photographic collection an important and accessible tool for both students and educators.
Nazis and their collaborators were not the only photographers of ghetto life. The Judenräte (Jewish Councils
charged with administering the ghetto for the Germans) frequently employed Jewish photographs to
capture daily life. In some cases, such as the Lodz Ghetto, photographers such as Mendel Grossman 6 and
Henryk Ross 7 were charged with photographing the productivity and efficiency of the ghetto as a means
of demonstrating its usefulness to the Germans. As official photographers they had access to most areas
of the ghetto and so were able to capture the full spectrum of life in the ghetto. Lesser known individuals
also photographed ghetto life and for this discussion I have chosen a photograph from the CENTROPA
archive (image 3). Taken in 1941 in the Opole Ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland, the accompanying interview
with Lilli Tauber, the photograph’s owner, provides important contextual information as to the origins, fate,
and meaning of these primary source documents. In her CENTROPA interview, Tauber notes: “My father
inscribed things on some of the pictures and sent them to Vienna. In his letters to his relatives my father
expressed both his thanks for all the parcels they sent to him and my mother, and his fear of an uncertain
future.” 8 Such details not only contextualize the photograph historically, but also the establishes the personal
and familial connection. The people in the photographs are not positioned as family members and friends
of the Taubers, creating an intimacy with the subject.
109 HOLOCAUST EDUCATION IN PEDAGOGY, HISTORY, AND PRACTICE
5
ibid.
6
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/grossman.html
7
http://www.agolodzghetto.com/?_sp=217a892ac5c0776f.1472378802484
8
https://european-jewry.squarespace.com/austria/#/mass-accommodation-in-opole-ghetto/