Hidden in Plain Sight

For the first time in the United States the Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin presents an exhibition of private photographs preserved by an inmate at the Theresienstadt Ghetto.

On view in the Goldsmith Gallery at the Center for Jewish History, starting May 6.

Photographs from ghettos, concentration, or extermination camps are rare, especially those not taken by perpetrators or created for Nazi propaganda. Now, over 80 years after World War II, any newly discovered images constitute exceptional documentary evidence. The Theresienstadt Ghetto Album, preserved for decades in the estate of Milan Weiner, is one such find.

The small album (3.15 × 4.33 inches) contains 41 photographs depicting a small group of internees in the Theresienstadt (Terezín in Czech) Ghetto. These are the first known surviving images of Theresienstadt not produced for propaganda purposes and thus offer a rare glimpse into reality. The photographer remains unknown. A story passed down for generations claims that a gendarme (guard), Alois Jebavý, smuggled the negatives out, which were later developed by the Jílovská sisters in Prague, though this cannot be verified.

When examined closely, the album appears to consist of two groups of photographs: one carefully composed and professionally executed, the other technically simpler, suggesting the possibility of multiple sources combined after the war.

The images do not show overt violence. Instead, they depict streets, daily activities, and people who were often aware of the camera’s presence and the danger it posed. Their true horror lies in what is absent: the knowledge that many of those photographed would soon be murdered.

The exhibition is presented in cooperation with the Weiner family and the Memorial of Silence (Czech Republic). The exhibition is also made possible by the Charles and Madeline Dreifus Family Exhibition Fund.