Through Amateur Eyes: Film and Photography in Nazi Germany

Image Plates

plae 1. Three Russians hung by German soldiers, Soviet Union, circa 1941–44. The photograph, found on the corpse of a fallen German soldier, demonstrates how the German fascists hung the Soviets and how pleased the hangmen were with their work. Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R96547; photographer unknown. plae 2. Bodies merged with the landscape. Unknown photographer and location. Courtesy of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, image 78434. plae 3. A large group of men is seated on the ground with their hands on their heads while being forced to watch the execution of Moshe Kagan and Wolf Kieper, two Jewish judges, in Zhitomir, northwestern Ukraine, 1943. Courtesy of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, image 3339. plae 4. The battalion barber had a busy job. This photograph, taken in Minsk, shows soldiers relaxing surrounded by cannons and other machinery of war. The presence of artillery in Wöbbeking’s photographs is common, as he was an artilleryman in the army. Wöbbeking, Box 4, T 29. Courtesy of Hamburg Institute for Social Research. plae 5. German soldiers pose with the corpses of recently executed men in an unspecified location in Russia on June 1, 1941 or 1943. It is not clear if the bodies are those of victims of these soldiers’ rifles, but the photograph shows the pride of soldiers in the dead as trophies. Courtesy of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, image 34224. plae 6. Street scene in the Lodz Ghetto. All of the Genewein images owned by the Jewish Museum Frankfurt have gone through color digital manipulations. Jüdisches Museum der Stadt Frankfurt. Courtesy of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, image 95053. plae 7. Lodz Ghetto inhabitants in the marketplace, circa 1940–44. People sold personal items at the ghetto market stalls. As of February 1942, this same square where the market was held was used for public executions. Jüdisches Museum der Stadt Frankfurt. Courtesy of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, image 95162. plae 8. Teenage boys in the Lodz Ghetto metal factory. The workers in the ghetto workshops endured long hours to the point of exhaustion. Genewein’s images were primarily intended to document activities, but they also betray many signs of the working conditions. Original German caption: “Litzmannstadt-Getto, Metallwerkstaette” (Litzmannstadt Ghetto metalwork place), 16. Courtesy of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, image 95200A. plae 9. Lodz Ghetto booksellers, circa 1940–44. The smiling children would strongly suggest that this photograph was taken early in the ghetto’s history. Original German caption: “Getto Buchhandlung” (Ghetto bookshop), 185. Courtesy of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; image 74521A. plae 10. A bearded religious Jewish vendor at his stall, Lodz Ghetto. Many such images of bearded religious Jewish men were labeled by Genewein “Judentypen” (Jewish type). Jüdisches Museum der Stadt Frankfurt. Courtesy of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, image 95141. plae 11. Jews board a passenger train at Radegast train station in the Lodz Ghetto, 1942. Original German caption: “Judenaussiedlung” (Jewish resettlement), 153. The routes taken by displaced Jews into and out of the ghetto were identical: they arrived and departed by train at the same station and proceeded on foot in columns to (or from) the ghetto. Many Jews being resettled into the ghetto carried small bundles and satchels similar to those of Jews being deported. Courtesy of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, image no. 65711. plae 12. Lodz Ghetto fire truck, 1940–44. Original German caption: “Judenfeuerwehr” (Jewish fire engine), 121. Fire workers performed rescue operations and answered alarms for local fires, and references suggest that they performed their duties with devotion and enthusiasm. Courtesy of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, image 95109A. plae 13. Workers in the saddle-making workshop of the Lodz Ghetto stand next to their work at an inspection. The downward glances and physical comportment of the workers are in striking contrast to those of the German official, probably Hans Biebow. Original German caption: “Litzmannstadt-Get, Sattlerei” (Litzmannstadt Ghetto saddlery). U.S. Holocaust Memorial...