A Vanished World

by Roman Vishniac, Elie Wiesel (Foreword)

This pictorial history of Jewish life in Germany in the 1930s before the Holocaust, shows the stories of individuals, their increasing poverty, sad wisdom and enduring love in the years leading up to World War II.

Genres: Photography, Jewish, History, Nonfiction, Holocaust

179 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Roman Vishniac was a Russian-American photographer, best known for capturing on film the culture of Jews in Central and Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. [from wikipedia]

Reviews

[Shoshanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never forget this book. I have to find a copy of this book. The copy I read I borrowed on interlibrary loan.

I have never read a book quite like this. Sweet, funny, sad, yes like I say about all the books I read, but more so.

Reading this book, I was overwhelmed and overtaken by how upset I was, knowing that this whole world was gone. I read each annotated notation for each photo because Vishniac had so much to say.

Seeing whole communities, so vibrant, knowing that they are all gone, knowing that these cities and towns still exist, knowing that the Europeans who live there now, they are living in spaces that may have been whole neighborhoods, whole towns, that were all belonging to communities that were murdered, whole cloth, I don't understand. It can't have just been Hitler's idea. Even at this point, there are discussions of economic boycotts of Jews, the pre holocaust.

And such compliance with the Nazis. I can't even deal. To see faces that look like faces of people I know, knowing they may have been long lost relatives, distant relatives, and learning what happened to them, it's unbearable.

Everyone needs to read this book. I can't believe these photos exist. Things were ::never:: meant to be hospitable to Jews in these cities. It's so clear, and so devastating. I'm so glad that we have the United States now to live in but of course, also, Israel.

[Maurizio Manco · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Non potevo salvare la mia gente, solo il loro ricordo." - Roman Vishniac, Premessa

[Marla Aufseeser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings—In short, wonderful beautiful photography, fine art with the potential to serve as documentary work into a “Vanished World.” Photography alone=5 stars. Egregious mischaracterizations, manipulations and invented fictions in the captioning and explanation of the photos makes Vishniac’s book very problematic for me as a form of documentary photography.

[brian tanabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful yet ultimately and painfully heartbreaking work of photography. Ugh.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think I have ever seen such powerful photographs.

[Lior · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everytime time I watch the pictures of this book, it still makes me so emotional.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have looked at the photos in this book - my mom bought it as a gift for my father when it first came out - many times over the past 40 years, but this is the first time I have also read the accompanying notes, hence I think it now qualifies as being read rather than just persused.

Harrowing, heartbreaking, and important. This time I was especially struck by the extreme poverty and the sense of hopelessness and despair on the faces of many of the subjects. Looking at these photos is made even worse because we know what happened to them ... no matter how bad their lives, life was shortly going to get infinitely worse.

As a counterpoint, a friend of my mothers who grew up in this society as a child before her family left pre 1939, indignantly told her that the life she lived there was nothing like this. Nevertheless, while Vishniac may have focussed on those most oppressed or suffering the greatest hardship, it doesn't make it any less true or real

[Hans Luiten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roman Vishniac was een fotograaf die vlak voor W.O. II voorvoelde dat er een grote tragedie voor de Oost-Europa op komst was. Hij reisde naar Polen en enkele omringende landn, en legde daar het Joodse leven vast voordat het zou worden vernietigd. Het zijn ontroerende, hartverscheurende foto’s, vaak met een verborgen camera genomen, van het leven van Talmoedische en Chassidische joden. De verterende armoede, de barre kou, de shetls, de Poolse discriminatie, de kapotte straten, de onschuldige kinderen...de foto’s laten het allemaal zien. Ruim 90% van zijn foto’s werd geconfiskeerd, dit boek bevat een selectie van de resterende 10%.

[Ashlaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contain none of the made-up background stories that are found in some other R. Vishniac photo books.

[Bea Elwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taken with a hidden camera because - y'know 1930s spies- this look into the Nazi ghettos is even more important today

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I come back to this book again and again--a pictorial study of the Warsaw Ghetto. It will haunt you. As Elie Wiesel says of Vishniac in his foreword to the book, "It is his love of the dead which touches us so deeply."

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible photographs taken by an amazing photographer.

[Mary Narkiewicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poignant , historic photographs of Jewish life in Eastern Europe before 1940..