Grief [Elektronische Ressource] the biography of a Holocaust photograph

In January 1942, Soviet press photographers came upon a scene like none they had ever documented. That day, they took pictures of the first liberation of a German mass atrocity, where an estimated 7,000 Jews and others were executed at an anti-tank trench near Kerch on the Crimean peninsula. Dmitri Baltermants, a photojournalist working for the Soviet newspaper Izvestiia, took photos that day that would have a long life in shaping the image of Nazi genocide in and against the Soviet Union. Presenting never before seen photographs, Grief: The Biography of a Holocaust Photograph shows how Baltermants used the image of a grieving woman to render this gruesome mass atrocity into a transcendentally human tragedy. David Shneer tells the story of how that one photograph from the series Baltermants took that day in 1942 near Kerch became much more widely known than the others, eventually being titled "Grief." Baltermants turned this shocking wartime atrocity photograph into a Cold War era artistic meditation on the profundity and horror of war that today can be found in Holocaust photo archives as well as in art museums and at art auctions. Although the journalist documented murdered Jews in other pictures he took at Kerch, in "Grief" there are likely no Jews among the dead or the living, save for the possible NKVD soldier securing the site. Nonetheless, Shneer shows that this photograph must be seen as an iconic Holocaust photograph. Unlike images of emaciated camp survivors or barbed wire fences, Shneer argues, the Holocaust by bullets in the Soviet Union make "Grief" a quintessential Soviet image of Nazi genocide. In January 1942, Soviet press photographers came upon a scene like none they had ever documented. That day, they took pictures of the first liberation of a German mass atrocity, where an estimated 7,000 Jews and others were executed at an anti-tank trench near Kerch on the Crimean peninsula. Dmitri Baltermants, a photojournalist working for the Soviet newspaper Izvestiia, took photos that day that would have a long life in shaping the image of Nazi genocide in and against the Soviet Union. Presenting never before seen photographs, Grief: The Biography of a Holocaust Photograph shows how Baltermants used the image of a grieving woman to render this gruesome mass atrocity into a transcendentally human tragedy.David Shneer tells the story of how that one photograph from the series Baltermants took that day in 1942 near Kerch became much more widely known than the others, eventually being titled "Grief." Baltermants turned this shocking wartime atrocity photograph into a Cold War era artistic meditation on the profundity and horror of war that today can be found in Holocaust photo archives as well as in art museums and at art auctions. Although the journalist documented murdered Jews in other pictures he took at Kerch, in "Grief" there are likely no Jews among the dead or the living, save for the possible NKVD soldier securing the site. Nonetheless, Shneer shows that this photograph must be seen as an iconic Holocaust photograph. Unlike images of emaciated camp survivors or barbed wire fences, Shneer argues, the Holocaust by bullets in the Soviet Union make "Grief" a quintessential Soviet image of Nazi genocide. "In January 1942, Soviet photographers came upon a scene like none they had ever documented. That day, they took pictures of the first liberation of a German mass atrocity site, where an estimated 7,000 Jews and others were executed at a trench near Kerch on the Crimean peninsula. Dmitri Baltermants, a photojournalist working for the Soviet newspaper Izvestiia, took pictures that day that would have a long life in shaping the image of Nazi genocide in and against the Soviet Union. Presenting never before seen photographs, Grief: The Biography of a Holocaust Photograph shows how Baltermants used the image of a grieving woman to render this gruesome mass atrocity into a transcendentally human tragedy. David Shneer tells the story of how one photograph from the trench became much more widely known than the others, eventually being titled "Grief." Baltermants turned this shocking atrocity photograph into a Cold War era artistic meditation on the profundity and horror of war that today can be found in Holocaust archives as well as art museums and at art auctions. Although the journalist documented murdered Jews in other pictures he took at Kerch, in "Grief" there are likely no Jews among the dead or the living, save for the possible NKVD officer securing the site. Nonetheless, Shneer shows that this photograph must be seen as an iconic Holocaust photograph. Unlike emaciated camp survivors or barbed wire fences, Shneer argues, the Holocaust by bullets in the Soviet Union make "Grief" a quintessential Soviet image of Nazi genocide"-- Provided by publisher In January 1942, Soviet photographers came upon a scene like none they had ever documented. That day, they took pictures of the first liberation of a German mass atrocity site, where an estimated seven thousand Jews and others were executed at a trench near Kerch on the Crimean peninsula. Dmitri Baltermants, a photojournalist working for the Soviet newspaper Izvestiia, took pictures that day that would have a long life in shaping the image of Nazi genocide in and against the Soviet Union. Presenting never-before-seen photographs, Grief: The Biography of a Holocaust Photograph shows how Baltermants used the image of a grieving woman to render this gruesome mass atrocity into a transcendentally human tragedy. David Shneer tells the story of how one photograph from the trench became much more widely known than the others, eventually being titled Grief. Baltermants turned this shocking atrocity photograph into a Cold War–era artistic meditation on the profundity and horror of war that today can be found in Holocaust archives as well as art museums and at art auctions. Although the journalist documented murdered Jews in other pictures he took at Kerch, in Grief there are likely no Jews among the dead or the living, save for the possible officer securing the site. Nonetheless, Shneer shows that this photograph must be seen as an iconic Holocaust photograph. Unlike emaciated camp survivors or barbed-wire fences, Shneer argues, the “Holocaust by bullets” in the Soviet Union makes Grief a quintessential Soviet image of Nazi genocide. Cover Grief Copyright Contents Introduction: Introducing Grief 1. The Making of a Soviet War Photographer and the German Occupation of Kerch 2. Witnessing Grief: The First Reports of Genocide 3. The Aftermath of Grief 4. Producing and Displaying Grief 5. Valuing Grief 6. How Grief Became a Commodity 7. Seeing the Holocaust in Grief Epilogue Gratitude Notes Bibliography Index