Henryk Ross

Henryk Ross (1 May 1910 – 1991) was a Polish Jewish photographer who was employed by the Department of Statistics for the Jewish Council within the Łódź Ghetto during the Holocaust in occupied Poland. Daringly, working as staff photographer, Ross also documented Nazi atrocities (such as public hangings)[1] while remaining officially in the good graces of the German occupational administration.[2]

Henryk Ross
Witness Henryk Ross questioned by Gideon Hausner during Eichmann-Trial (1961)
Born1 May 1910
Died1991
NationalityPolish
Known forStaff photographer for Judenrat, Łódź Ghetto

Part of his official duties was taking identity photographs. He constructed a three level stage in his studio that let him photograph up to twelve people with a single negative. While the authorities only supplied him enough film for assigned work, this trick allowed him extra film he could use for unauthorized photography.[3]

His unofficial images covered scenes from daily life, communal celebrations, children digging for scraps of food and large groups of Jews being led to deportation and being loaded into box cars.[4] As the ghetto was being liquidated in the fall of 1944, Ross buried his photos and negatives in a box, hoping they might survive as an historical record. He was able to dig up the box in January 1945, after the Red Army liberated Poland. Much of his material was damaged or destroyed by water; still, about half of his 6,000 images survived.[3] Ross later testified during the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann.

References
  1. Marta Sinior (24 August 2005). "Fotografie z getta Henryka Rossa". Internet Archive. FotoPolis.pl. Archived from the original on April 4, 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  2. Isaiah Trunk 2008, Łódź Ghetto: A History, pp. 53-56.
  3. Memory Unearthed: The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross, Art Gallery of Ontario, 2015
  4. Agence VU Henryk Ross
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