Henryk Ross: Lodz Ghetto Album [Hardcover]

Henryk Ross (Photographer), Thomas Weber (Introduction), Robert van Pelt (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2009

Henryk Ross (1910-91) was a Jewish press photographer in Poland before World War II. Incarcerated by the invading Germans in the Lodz ghetto, he became one of its two official photographers. His duties afforded him access to photographic facilities which he used to secretly photograph the atrocities of Lodz, while also recording scenes of domestic life among the ghetto "elite." As the Germans began the liquidation of Lodz in 1944, Ross buried his 3,000 negatives. Surviving the Holocaust, he recovered them and, from his postwar home in Israel, circulated images showing the horrors of Lodz. But until now, the bulk of his photographs have remained unseen, including many of the ghetto police. For an audience accustomed to dramatic photographs of Holocaust suffering, the quiet, domestic scenes he recorded are poignant and sometimes shocking, challenging us to rethink what we understand about ghetto society. With a foreword by bestselling Holocaust expert Robert-Jan van Pelt, and with an appendix of original documents, this volume is introduced with an informative, illustrated essay by historian Thomas Weber. Published in association with the Archive of Modern Conflict.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A stunning, challenging, and thought provoking book. -- SomethingJewish.co.uk, September 19, 2004

Poignant. -- The Daily Telegraph, September 25, 2004

The photographs raise uncomfortable questions about divisions within the ghetto, and Ross's relationship with those he photographed is still unclear. -- The Guardian, July 14, 2004

[The Lodz Ghetto Album] reveals an unexpected side to life in Poland’s last remaining ghetto. -- The Sunday Times Magazine, August 22, 2004

From the Author

In terms of its scope, all other photographic records of ghetto life pale in comparison. These photographs have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of ghetto life. 'The Lodz Ghetto Album' demands us to revisit the social order of the ghetto and the scope of collaboration and resistance in the Holocaust. It will change our comprehension of human behaviour in the Holocaust. The dilemmas between collaboration and resistance were not confined to the Jewish Council and the Jewish Police, as held by the conventional wisdom. As the book reveals, all ghetto residents alike had to navigate competing loyalties and an almost-inevitable combination of heroism and compromise, collaboration and resistance.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Chris Boot; First Edition edition (June 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0954281373
• ISBN-13: 978-0954281373
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,126,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is also MY STORY!, February 13, 2005

By 

Susan I. Cohen "helen" (Rockville, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Henryk Ross: Lodz Ghetto Album (Hardcover)

I think this is a great book--I was there and it took me back to my childhood. My husband and I were liberated by the Russians in January 1945 after being slaves in the Ghetto. Most of our family perished and we soon left Poland and eventually came to America in 1949.

These photographs took me back 60 years to that life. In fact, it is possible that the photo of the young couple kissing is, in fact, my husband & I!

For anyone interested in what life in the Lodz Ghetto was really like, this is an excellent book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Contribution to Holocaust History, May 24, 2010

By 

Marilyn Ludzki - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Henryk Ross: Lodz Ghetto Album (Hardcover)

A relatively new and important addition to Holocaust photography, Henryk Ross risked his life in order to document the daily indignities, inhumane hardships, and calculated murder of the Jews trapped in the Lodz Ghetto. Since some of my family survived this Nazi-created community, I've searched other Lodz Ghetto and Holocaust literature for decades, seeking any evidence of family I never had the chance to meet. Only in the extraordinarlly courageous work of Henryk Ross work did I finally discover some photos of relatives. From the mundane of everyday existence to the horrors of daily hangings, Ross proves, literally in black-and-white, what life was like under Nazi rule. I don't think any collection of Holocaust history is complete without this unique book. The book even includes Ross's testimony at the Eichmann trial in Israel; testimony that was impossible to mock or minimize because of his ingenious decision to bury his photographs during the war and retrieve them following liberation. It's too bad that Henryk Ross's work was not more internationally recognized before he died (I think in the 1970s). When I look at books in my collection now with photo credits photos from different museums, hundreds of these unattributed photographs are actually by Ross--a truly important photojournalist.