Additional information
by Ofer Ashkenazi (Author), Sarah Wobick-Segev (Author), Rebekka Grossmann (Author)
How German Jews used photographs to document their experiences in the face of National Socialism
Still Lives is a systematic study of the ways Jews used photographs to document their experiences in the face of National Socialism. In a time of intensifying anti-Jewish rhetoric and policies, German Jews documented their lives and their environment in tens of thousands of photographs. German Jews of considerably diverse backgrounds took and preserved these photographs: professional and amateurs, of different ages, gender, and classes. The book argues that their previously overlooked photographs convey otherwise unuttered views, emotions, and self-perceptions. Based on a database of more than fifteen thousand relevant images, it analyzes photographs within the historical contexts of their production, preservation, and intended viewing, and explores a plethora of Jews' reactions to the changing landscapes of post-1933 Germany. Here, the authors claim that these reactions complement, complicate, and, sometimes, undermine the contents of contemporaneous written sources.
Author Biography
Ofer Ashkenazi is Professor of History and Director of the Koebner-Minerva Center for German History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Rebekka Grossmann is a an Assistant Professor of Migration History at Leiden University. Shira Miron is a PhD candidate studying German Literature at Yale University. Sarah Wobick-Segev is a research associate at the Universität Hamburg.
