lQuestion of the Week: Whichgentile artist lived in a
Jewish quarter, frequently worked with Jews and had so many
Jewish friends that many insisted he must really be Jewish?
.
(4uolsGToJd sons oLim) TpuoJciwa uwAsuvi
Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor
I was born in Lodz in 1913, and
loved taking pictures even as a child.
When Grossman became a prisoner
of the Nazi ghetto there, he contin-
! ued his passion.
My Secret Camera: life in the
Part of it was sanctioned: the ghet-
Lodz Ghetto, photographs by
i
to
administration
hired him to take the
. Mendel Grossman, text by Frank
photos used for work permits. But
Dabba Smith (Harcourt; $16).
mostly Grossman photographed in
secret
(he had taken the job specifi-
Several years ago, Davidson
cally so he would have access to
(N.C.) College Professor of Religion
cameras
and a dark room). And this
Karl Plank was so taken by a single
time, he also worked for the sake of
photograph that he wrote an entire
memory.
book inspired by this one picture.
Grossman eventually was sent to
He called it, Mother of the Wire
a
prison camp and died during a
Fence. The photo showed a dark-
forced march.
haired woman, her knees on the
Yet, thank God, his pictures
ground, straining to speak across a
remain, and they are breathtaking.
fence in the Lodz Ghetto. Facing
You will pause, barely able to
her, which means our eyes see only
move,
at each page in this book.
his back, is a boy of about 7.
The photos will cling to you, and
Stitched on his jacket is the infa-
you
will find yourself unable to turn
mous yellow star.
a page, never prepared to leave.
It's no wonder Plank found this
But the images also are appropri- -
photo so compelling. It tells every-
ate for children, for whom this book
thing (someone in this family is leav-
was
written. There are some very dif-
ing) — and it tells nothing (we never
ficult photos to view, of course, but
learn the fate of anyone pictured).
nothing so. horrid (such as naked
Mendel Grossman took the picture.
He was, perhaps, the most famous
corpses, as often seen in books on
photographer during the Nazi era. A
the Holocaust) as to give children
prisoner in the Lodz Ghetto, Gross-
nightmares. Instead, consider this
man snapped pictures in secret, at
book an excellent starting point to
risk to his life.
discuss the Holocaust with your chil-
His works are extraordinary both
dren.
for their anguish and their beauty.
The text, written by a rabbi, is gen-
Among his pictures is one that shows
erally. good, but unnecessary. It
a boy of about 10, certainly starving
would have been enough to simply
himself, feeding his tiny sister.
publish the photographs. They are all
Who was Mendel Grossman? He
we need to know.
6/23
2000
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