3D show to accompany Warsaw Ghetto Uprising anniversary

Image: Fotoplastikon

The majority of the 48 images on show at the Fotoplastikon in Warsaw were made by Polish photographer Mieczyslaw Bil-Bilazewski, who was hired by the Germans for propaganda purposes.

“These pictures are sometimes truly shocking, with young German soldiers in elegant uniforms talking with impoverished Jews in the ghetto as if they were on a trip to a reserve,” said Lena Dabkowska-Cichocka from the Fotoplastikon, in an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

She stresses that the pictures were not commissioned to document what life was like in the ghetto, but rather “to propagate an image of people 'who did not want to assimilate' into society.'”

The exhibition “Window onto the other side” will run from 17 April until 16 May.

The Germans established Warsaw's Jewish Ghetto in October 1940, a move that was replicated in cities and towns across occupied Poland.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began on 19 April 1943, with about 1000 Jewish guerillas taking part in the armed struggle. The Nazis exacted a brutal revenge, and it is estimated that about 13,000 Jews were killed during the uprising, which was snuffed out by 16 May.

Poland had a population of about 3.3 million Jews before the war. It is estimated that only about 10 percent survived the Holocaust.

Meanwhile, among this week's events commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising will be a special preview of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews (the permanent exhibition is not due to be completed until late 2013 at the earliest). (nh)

Be sure to tune in to a special edition of our News from Poland magazine on Friday, 14.00 CET, where we devote the whole programme to the 70th anniversary of the Jewish Ghetto Uprising and the official opening of Warsaw's Museum of the History of Polish Jews.