My Secret Camera: Life in the Lodz Ghetto

by Frank Dabba Smith, Mendel Grossman (Photographs)

Mendel Grossman was a prisoner in Poland's Lodz Ghetto for more than four years. His job was to take photographs for work permits, but he also secretly used his camera to record the daily lives of his fellow Jewish residents. These images speak with devastating poignancy of cultural devastation but also of the indomitable spirit of these people. Unrivalled in historical importance and emotional impact, the pictures show grim tableaux of a child clutching a wire fence, soldiers marching through empty streets, crowds moving uneasily toward what is surely deportation. In contrast, there are also intimate scenes of workers smiling as they bake Passover matzoh, and teenagers sharing a private joke. Of the thousands of photographs taken by Grossman, only a small number this book features 17 of the most resonant. Rabbi Frank Dabba Smith provides simple, heartfelt text in the voice of Mendel Grossman; it reminds readers not simply of the horrors of the time but also of the hope and courage that kept humanity going. An appendix tells the fascinating story of how these photographs survived.

Genres: Holocaust, Nonfiction, History, World War II, War, Photography, Picture Books

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pictures of everyday life. How despite being herded into pens too dirty too small for these animals, their humanity shines through. They aren't animals, they aren't subhumans, they aren't Jews, they are just people doing their best in the worst of all possible lives.

"I had just been visiting my grandmother ... when I received a foretaste of things to come. At first I didn't know what was happening. I simply saw people scattering in all directions. Then I realized why the street had emptied so quickly. Some women were being herded along it by German soldiers. Instead of running away like the rest, I felt compelled to watch.

One older woman at the rear of the column couldn't keep up. A German officer kept prodding her back into line, but she fell down on all fours, ... Suddenly a pistol appeared in the officer's hand. There was a loud bang, and blood came welling out of her back. I ran straight into the nearest building, squeezed into a smelly recess beneath some wooden stairs, and didn’t come out for hours. I developed a strange habit: clenching my fists so hard that my palms became permanently calloused. I also woke up one morning to find that I had wet my bed." Roman Polanski, whom a Catholic priest cruelly told him "you aren't one of us" and cast him out.

Jews are one of you, we are all you - or us. We are all people and nothing else at all. What you see in the mirror is what you are, just a person. Everything else is a choice and an attitude we assume.

Everything else is lies.

PS This is not about the adult film director Roman Polanski, but about the very little boy who lived through those times.

[Christopher Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a excellent book. Very short and mostly of photographs taken by a Jewish man in the Lodz Ghetto during WW2. Its a sad reality of the daily lives of the men, women and children held prisoner and used as forced slave labor. It’s heartbreaking to see and to realize that the vast majority (if not all) of the people in these photos were eventually murdered by the Nazis. Including the man behind the camera.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man with a camera uses it to record a photographic book for children to understand the Holocaust. Very good and ok for kids upper elementary and up.

[Jaycee M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this short picture book. I wasnt thrilled with the ending but overall it was a decent book.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a three-star review for a few very specific reasons.
1) I loved the photos - both their subjects and their composition.
2) I am in awe at the courage and drive Grossman had in witnessing to ghetto life. I appreciate his sacrifice.
3) the narration of the photos was trite at times, but may be a good introduction to ghetto life for those who dont know much.
4) I know 10,000 or more were taken and many were destroyed. These photos simply whet my appetite to search for more.

[Deena · Rating 4 out of 5]

These pictures are heart-wrenching, and should certainly be seen by anyone with an interest in the Holocaust. The book itself is beautifully designed, and Smith's text is appropriate. The ultimate fate (no spoilers) of most of the negatives is both painfully ironic and yet somehow fitting, perhaps. We are fortunate that some of Grossman's work survived for us to see.

[MKF · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a bit confused why this was in the adult section at the library. The writing and layout of the book is that of a children's book.

[Sonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, simply brilliant! So heartbreaking in it's simplicity. Very good for a young adult introduction for Young Adults.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbreaking photos of life in the Lodz ghetto. However, it was ncredibly brave of him to document for the world what was going on.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4. Powerful images but the words are off.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book that captures photographer Mendal Grossman's experience in Nazi stricken Poland.

My Secret Camera by Frank Dabba Smith, Photographs by Mendel Grossman
• Picture Book length (32 pages)
• Story written as captions to the black and white photographs that Grossman took.
• Photographs take up half to whole page with smaller text.
• Photographs are a perspective from Grossman. He is the one who took these photos to tell a story.
• Shows the groups of people congregating together as one with the yellow Star of David on their jackets to mark their identity.
• Shows child labor, as they are attached as horses to drag something to somewhere.
• Shows women washing the streets.
• Desperate need for food. People are shown sickly thin nibbling at their last bite.
The photographs in this book are much larger. This creates more of an opportunity to see the fine detail on these photos that could be sixty years old. We are able to look into the faces of children and people that Grossman saw around town and jump right into their lives as we turn each page. This conveys information about this time period and draws the reader in. There is a safe sense in knowing that Grossman had a job and worked to develop pictures so I almost have this ideal that nothing could happen to him since he was a working-man for the Nazis during these times.

[C]

This was a really good book to learn from with the pictures to see what was happening during this time to the jews.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Authentic pictures are the draw of this book. The text leaves something to be desired. I can't quite put my finger on it...perhaps it is because the sentences are over simplified for a younger audience. I guess it just seems dumbed down. Although written in first person as though the author were telling the photographer's story, it lacks the raw emotion that you would expect to accompany the pictures and makes it less realistic.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can you say about a photo collection from the inside of a World War II era Jewish ghetto? Mendel Grossman's collection of images is unique. To my understanding photography from this perspective is rare. It is explained (unfortunately, in the afterword rather than the preface) the conditions under which Grossman captured these images. He served a photographer for documentary purposes, but that did not officially include daily life. He found ways to rig his camera within a coat to take images in public without Nazi guard suspicion.

What is most interesting about the story told, is that it is not unlike Viktor Frankl's "Man's search for meaning" in that the interred Jews still sought to create and to be their own story tellers. I highly recommend reading the afterword first for a better sense of this context.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Children's nonfiction featuring the Lodz ghetto photos of Holocaust victim Mendel Grossman...who documented the conditions secretly. He had access to photography eq because his official job was to take ID pictures of the Jews in the ghetto. Smith's captions do a good job capturing the emotion of the times. Mendel did not survive, and unfortunately his 10,000 negatives did not either (destroyed in an Israeli war after surviving a hiding space in the Lodz ghetto during WW2). This is a good intro to children on ghetto life. I think it could be even more powerful if written for an adult audience with other photos.

[mlb]

This is a very moving piece of nonfiction told through actual pictures taken from inside Poland during the Nazi occupation. The story of the photographer is inspiring. The photos add a level of "reality" to a time in history that seems too horrific to actually be real. This book and the photographs it includes are a very powerful addition to any study of the the Holocaust. The level of detail is not enough to really "teach" what the Holocaust was for those students with little prior knowledge, but coupled with other works of fiction and nonfiction, this book helps to tell the amazing story of courage and perseverance of the Jewish people in Lodz, Poland in 1940.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is easy to brim over with tears while reading this book. Photographs and a simple text about the photographer who documented life in the ghetto hit dreadfully hard. A great text for WWII background knowledge building.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sparse in words, but powerful when one realizes the risk taken and the history that is documented and proved by way of the pictures.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up for pretty cheap. I tend to look at the pictures more often than I actually 'read' the book.

[Barbara Bjelke-Wahlberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Images that leave you breathless.

[Renay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very moving pictures

[cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, rare photographs paired with simple descriptions. A great introduction to the ghettos of the Holocaust.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would have far more impact without the writing, or if the writing was done by the photographer, not a third party.

[Ashley Lowing · Rating 5 out of 5]

The historical background behind this story is amazing and the photographs are really worth looking at.

[Stefanie Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of how these photos nearly did not survive is as interesting and moving as the photographs in the story. Grossman captures some amazing photographs that touch the heartstrings. The text matches perfectly. I really enjoyed this, but feel it connects with an older audience, though it looks like a children's picture book. He shows what everyday life was like and how some tried to find life in a place so unimaginably horrible and degrading. Excellent photo story. The introduction is very well written and moving.

[Landon Johns · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is explaining back in the day, and how people were badly treated. The Nazis killed people for no reason.I recommend this book to people because it will explain how things were in the 1940ś.