Photography and The Holocaust: Then & Now

To be featured in the Holocaust timeline, Faye Schulman’s courageous photographs record Jewish resistance in Poland to the Nazis by providing a first-person account about what it takes to confront authoritarian ultranationalism with its regimentation of society and brutal suppression of opposition. Her work exemplifies the will to resist and persevere against the overwhelming Nazi tyranny machine, designed to break down people’s resolve and turn them into silent, obeying accomplices. Each of her images is a portrait of personal choice in the face of death. As an anthology, her photographs and autobiography counter the Nazi narrative that forges Jewish identity around meek victimhood. They are remembrances that alienated and marginalized Jews did not ask for special treatment, but only wanted the opportunity to uphold the same standards of achievement, conduct, and ethics as everyone else.