Pre-war photograph of Jew taken clandestinely by Roman Vishniac

Roman Vishniac was born in 1897 in St. Petersburg, Russia and was educated in the Universities of Moscow and Berlin. From 1933 to 1939, he traveled throughout eastern Europe--Russia, Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, and Lithuania--photographing Jewish communities. He was arrested and imprisoned repeatedly by police who suspected him of photographing Jews. Of the sixteen thousand images he took, two thousand negatives still exist. Vishniac's photographs were made with a hidden Leica camera which he wrapped a handkerchief around and exposed the film as he wiped his brow. He also used a concealed Rollei or 2-1/4 x 2-1/4 camera. The Rollei was kept under his coat with the lens protruding through an enlargened button hole. 

The photograph was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1991 by Mara Vishniac Kohn, the daughter of Roman Vishniac. 

Pre-war photograph of Jew taken clandestinely by Roman Vishniac 

overall: Height: 28.190 inches (71.603 cm) | Width: 22.130 inches (56.21 cm) | Depth: 39.210 inches (99.593 cm) 

In the catalog which accompanies this photograph, Vishniac explained"As peddlers they could sell a few things, second-hand goods from which they could make a meager living. But not any more, for the boycott killed all possibilities of making their income by selling. So they were sitting and waiting and hoping. And I was with them. I wanted to photograph a kind of soul giving something to beggars. I was waiting the whole day, but the beggars did not get a little coin, and I did not get my picture" Original created by Roman Vishniac, 1938. Reproduced from original negative by Witkin-Berley Limited, 1977, Roslyn Heights, New York. 

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Image of two seated men. Image permanently mounted on board; verso, printed label, lower left corner,"No. 4 of portfolio 33 published in 1977 by Witkin-Berley, Ltd"