Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust |
|
Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust
(Глазами советских еврейских корреспондентов)
Award-winning book/Touring Exhibition
Winner, 2013 Jordan Schnitzer Prize, Best Book in Arts and Culture, Association for Jewish Studies
"Through Soviet Jewish Eyes is in a class all its own. [...] It is difficult to think of any single work on photojournalism, in any national setting, that rivals Shneer's deep archival forays, expert use of memoirs and interviews, and sharp analysis."
-Dr. Michael Berkowitz, Slavonic and East European Review
Description:
Most view the relationship of Jews to the Soviet Union through the lens of repression and silence. Focusing on an elite group of two dozen Soviet-Jewish photographers, including Arkady Shaykhet, Alexander Grinberg, Mark Markov-Grinberg, Evgenii Khaldei, Dmitrii Baltermants, and Max Alpert,Through Soviet Jewish Eyes presents a different picture. These artists participated in a social project they believed in and with which they were emotionally and intellectually invested-they were charged by the Stalinist state to tell the visual story of the unprecedented horror we now call the Holocaust.
These wartime photographers were the first liberators to bear witness with cameras to Nazi atrocities, three years before Americans arrived at Buchenwald and Dachau. In this passionate work, David Shneer tells their stories and highlights their work through their very own images-he has amassed never-before-published photographs from families, collectors, and private archives.
Through Soviet Jewish Eyes helps us understand why so many Jews flocked to Soviet photography; what their lives and work looked like during the rise of Stalinism, during and then after the war; and why Jews were the ones charged with documenting the Soviet experiment and then its near destruction at the hands of the Nazis.
Chicago Press about the exhibition:
WBEZ Interview with Shneer
Chicago Tribune review with stunning slide show of images
When the Curator Gets Nervous: Blog Post at the Illinois Holocaust Museum
"Through Soviet Jewish Eyes in the Russian Tongue"
Russian language interview with Reklama media
Through Soviet Jewish Eyes exhibition schedule:
CU Art Museum, Fall 2011
Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York City, November 2012-April 2013
Holocaust Museum Houston, April -October 2013
University of Louisiana Museum of Art, October-December 2014
Illinois Holocaust Museum, February-September 2015
Press Coverage of the Exhibition:
New York:
Time Magazine
Westword
New York Photo Review
Adobe Airstream
Hadassah Magazine
Behind the Scenes, Museum of Jewish Heritage Blog
WNET/Channel 13 New York
Favorite NY Photo Shows of 2012
CU Arts and Sciences Magazine
Chicago:
Chicago Tribune
JUF News
Colorado:
CU Independent
Houston:
Houstonian Magazine
Jewish Herald Voice
Louisiana:
Through Soviet Jewish Eyes
the Acadiana Advocate
Public Talks about the Book:
Shneer delivered a talk about the book at the Wiener Library for the Documentation of War and the Holocaust, June 2018
Shneer also delivered a talk about his book, Through Soviet Jewish Eyes, at the Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam, August 2016 in conjunction with the exhibition, The Power of Pictures: Early Soviet Photography.
Podcasts about the Book:
WBEZ Chicago Public Radio
Tablet Magazine
New Books in History
Video Interview with Lancaster Online
Press Coverage of the Book:
Booknik (in Russion)
Colorado Arts and Sciences
Forward, video
The Hoot (Brandeis University newspaper)
Lancaster PA News (Millersville Conference on Holocaust and Genocide)
Lancaster PA News (On the Question of Evidence)
Yiddishkayt Los Angeles
Book Reviews:
American Historical Review
Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature
Annales
Cahiers du Monde Russe
Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Jewish Ideas Daily
Jewish Journal Los Angeles
Journal of Jewish Identities
Russian Review
Shofar
Slavic Review
Slavonic and East European Review
