Documenting as a “Passion and Obsession”: Photographs from the Lodz (Litzmannstadt) Ghetto

Abstract

AbstractThe Jews who lived in the Lodz (Litzmannstadt) ghetto endeavored in a variety of written ways to document their experiences for later generations. Photographers who lived in the ghetto also helped capture on film the daily reality of those who lived there. In this way, the foundation was laid for a later investigation of the ghetto—one from the perspective of the victims, who wanted to ensure that the perpetrators would not be able to monopolize future interpretations of what had transpired there. After providing a brief overview of the history of the ghetto and of the archive set up by the Jewish ghetto administration specifically for this task, the article focuses on the activities of two photographers in particular: Mendel Grossman and Henryk Ross, who secretly, and at great risk to their own lives, attempted to capture as many aspects of ghetto life as possible. The article discusses a number of their photographs, the way in which they came into being, and the likely motivation of those who made them.