Jews have lived for centuries in most every country of Europe, with the largest concentration in the Eastern European countries. They spoke Yiddish, along with the language of their native country. They lived in shtetls and villages and maintained their family and religious traditions within the dominant culture, but some would avail themselves of economic or educational opportunities in larger cities. In doing so they might still feel the pull of their traditional ways of life, especially in Western European countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands. Jews were found in the trades, but they were also farmers and factory workers. Others went into professions such as law, medicine, and teaching. Some were wealthy, but many more lived in grinding poverty. And there were Jews who excelled in the arts and music. Jewish tradition has always stressed the importance of social welfare and love of neighbor. And through it all there was a respect for open debate, communicative competence, and a plurality of opinion, witnessed not only in the Talmud and Midrash but as well in the myriad political and religious viewpoints and parties that were so much a part of the Jewish intellectual and political landscape. “Two Jews, three arguments” is not merely a joke.
Reflecting on the centrality of the family as a critical entry point into the study of the Holocaust, Wendy Lower (The Ravine) relates the achingly sad comment that for Jews consigned to ghettos, or deported to concentration camps, “the object most often packed…besides jewelry and currency, was the family photograph.” For Jewish families these photographs were not merely means to memorialize an important event, but as well affirmations of pride in a rich cultural heritage: traditions, beliefs, values, and ways of life forged and annealed in the crucible of the family and transmitted through the generations. They were a testament to Jewish emancipation and integration into civil society as full citizens entitled to equality and civil rights under the law.
The popular pre-World War II sepia-toned photographs of Jewish families often exhibit them dressed fashionably for the era, with an air of restraint and sobriety, but with a palpable pride. Many of these portrait photographs were arranged in studios, and for the family getting their portrait taken it would be an important event. Eventually the staid cabinet photographs would give way to the more adventurous and creative shots hand-held cameras permitted. At times itinerant photographers would bring the studio to the client: if one looks closely, one can see underneath the tapestry photographic backdrop the earthen floor of the shtetl where the photograph was taken.
For the Nazis, however, the individual photographs may appear superficially different, but they knew that Jews were fundamentally all the same, and there would be only one portrait of the Jew that meshed with Nazi racial theory: the Jew as pathogen, insidiously destroying the culture and political systems of the countries in which they lived. Racial purity and the concomitant superiority of the aryan race required that Jews, and every aspect of Jewish life and history, would have to be extirpated root and branch, so that the very possibility of reproduction itself would be obviated.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Three Student School, Carpathian Ruthenia, 1938.
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Three young boys sitting in front of a table with several books on it.
Text by Roman Vishniac in The Vanished World: A limited-edition portfolio published by Witkin-Berley Ltd.
In the little village in Carpathian Ruthenia, where such little boys studied in a tiny school, the teacher was not paid in money. He would get a little milk from one student. Another student would bring him some wood to make a fire. A third would bring him a potato. But all this payment was not enough, not sufficient for his existence, for his wife and children.
Image Courtesy of Mara Vishniac Kohn, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley.
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The Only Flowers of her Youth, Warsaw, 1938.
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A young girl sitting in a bed. The wall behind her has flowers painted on it.
Text by Roman Vishniac in The Vanished World: A limited-edition portfolio published by Witkin-Berley Ltd.
The little girl had to stay in her bed for seven months because she had no shoes. It would have been senseless to spend money for shoes. What could she earn to bring to the family? It was better for her to stay in bed, not to catch a cold. Her father, who loved the little girl so much, used stencils to make the pictures on the wall. He painted flowers for her, the only flowers of her youth.
Image Courtesy of Mara Vishniac Kohn, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley.
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One Room Apartment-Workshop, Warsaw, 1936.
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A man working on a wood stump in front of two beds with a young boy watching behind him.
Text by Roman Vishniac in The Vanished World: A limited-edition portfolio published by Witkin-Berley Ltd.
The basement was divided by wood boards into twenty-six living quarters. This apartment was the most expensive because a little light came from above. But when pedestrians walked on the pavement grating even this room became dark. This man was working the whole day. The work made it impossible to breathe because the metal dust was everywhere.
Image Courtesy of Mara Vishniac Kohn, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley.
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Synagogue Court, Vilna, 1938.
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A woman wearing a head covering sits in a chair in the street. Three men sit on the stairs behind her and one man leans on the railing. A man and a woman sit in the window frame behind them.
Text by Roman Vishniac in The Vanished World: A limited-edition portfolio published by Witkin-Berley Ltd.
This place was made famous by the Gaon of Vilna, Elijah, who preached on these steps to the community two hundred years ago. At the time when I came, forty years ago, it still was a place where everybody gathered. It was a place for everybody to come to speak and ask advice.
Image Courtesy of Mara Vishniac Kohn, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley.
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Pre-War Jewish Market in Kowel
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Black and white photograph of a street with people and buildlings, titled, "Kowel, Judenmarkt.
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Viennese Cabinet Photograph of Mother and Child by Ferdinand Kral
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Mother in standing behind seated baby; logo for 'Ferdinand Kral fotograf. atelier.' below image Back: "Ferdinand Kral, Fotografisches Atelier."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Vienna, Austria. Cabinet Photo. Mother and Child.
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Viennese Cabinet Photograph of Baby by Ferdinand Kral
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Seated baby wearing earrings and bracelet. Back: "Ferdinand Kral, Fotografisches Atelier."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Vienna, Austria. Cabinet Photo. Child.
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Three Chess Players from Kaunas, Lithuania
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Front: Two young men playing chess and one watching. Back: 'Leonar' and '7925' printed at bottom.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Kaunas, Lithuania. Young Chess Players.
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Jewish Soldier in Latvian Military Uniform
2014.1.404
Front: Young man in uniform including hat. Back: Handwriting and large blacked out line; 'Foto L. Polis, D-Pili, Cietoksni' stamp at center line.
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La Petite Russie
2014.1.405
Man with big white beard holding various items. Text on bottom of photo: 'La Petite Russie'. Back: Blank postcard lines with 'Carte Postale' at top and several words in Russian (?) around border.
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Gathering of Polish Children
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Countless children crowding around a table as they eat a meal. Back: Blank postcard except for one short phrase handwritten in blue ink.
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Young Men Standing Behind Framed Photograph in Lodz
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Four young men in suits stand behind a photo on a table at center. Back: Yellowing postcard with a multitude of purple stamps, 'I. Gerszonowicz, Lodz, Traugatta 8'.
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Kibbutz Hachshara Group From Kalisz, Poland
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Front: Young men and women pose for photo. Hebrew writing at bottom. Back: 'Foto H.Polanski, Kalisz' stamp.
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Polish Gathering in Czestochowa, Poland
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Front: Large group of people surrounding a long table. verso: Two handwritten notes in black ink; two different languages.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Czestochowa, Poland
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Ukrainian Farmers with Children
2014.1.412
Front: Elderly man and woman posing with two children in garden with flowers. Verso: Handwritten sentence in pencil; '43 / 27' written in bottom right corner; large
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Group in Vilnius, Lithuania
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Front: Five individuals sitting, seven standing in back. Verso: 'Moryc Grossman; Wilno, Wielka 47' purple handstamp.
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Ezartty Family From Greece
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Front: Photo adhered to matboard; Jewish Greek family with mother, father, son, and daughter. Red handstamp in bottom right corner. Back: Handwriting in pencil.
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Latvian Family
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Front: Mother with two sons. Text on left side: 'Photo Ateller R. Isakson' Back: Handwriting in blue ink at bottom; black ink on left side
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Latvian Couple
2014.1.419
Front: Man (left) with woman (right) seated at a table. Back: Four printed lines on bottom right side; two lines of handwriting in black ink on top; faint stamp in bottom right corner
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Bulgarian Family
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Front: Hand colored of a group of five; three seated on floor, two in chairs. Back: 'FOTO - ARTA P. HRISTOFF SILISTRA' purple handstamp at top right
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Bulgarian Family
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Front: Photograph of two women and a man, sitting on floor Bulmash Provided: Bulgarian Family
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Elder Couple from the Russian Shtetl of Trochenbrod (Zofiowka in Polish)
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Elder couple sitting and looking straight at camera.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Photograph of Bulmash family members - my great grandparents - posing for an itinerant photographer in the shtetl of Trochenbrod in Russia. Trochenbrod was part of Russia until World War I. During the years leading up to World War II it was part of Poland. Trochenbrod was unique in that it was an almost exclusively Jewish town before the war (save for the postmistress and her son), founded in 1835 as a farming community. It fell into Russian hands after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, but when Nazi Germany attacked eastern Poland and Russia in 1942, all of the Jews in Trochenbrod (3500) and its sister village of Lozisht (1500) were murdered by the Nazis and Ukrainian auxiliaries in two separate actions in 1942. It is estimated that 33 Jews escaped into the forest. The town of Trochenbrod no longer exists. It remains an empty field with a dirt road in western Ukraine.
