Closer: Portraits of Survival
Object numberM2017/015:012
TitleCloser: Portraits of Survival
Creator Katherine Griffiths
DescriptionLotte Weiss (nee Franklova) is one of the survivors photographed by Katherine Griffiths for the exhibition 'Closer: Portraits of Survival', sponsored by the JCA Szlamek and Ester Lipman Memorial Endowment Fund. Lotte holds her concentration camp mugshot, taken in Auschwitz, 20 June 1942. Her prison number, 2065, is tattooed on her arm. She recalls trying to burn the numbers off by holding her skin against a hot pipe. When the skin healed the numbers were even darker than before.
Sydney Jewish Museum Collection, courtesy Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum M1992/005
The survivor and the object are both witnesses to history and retainers of memory, embodiments of a traumatic past but also conduits to that past, vessels through which we can contemplate the profound and ongoing impact of the Holocaust.
In these photographs history and memory fuse seamlessly together. As the events of the Holocaust recede ever further into the past, it is the human as well as historical stories that the survivors and their objects convey that will emblazon this searing memory into the hearts and minds of succeeding generations. Through contemplating the stories of these individuals in tandem with the often humble, yet deeply significant objects they hold, the past is brought to bear in the present, compelling us to grapple with its meaning now and into the future.
Sydney Jewish Museum Collection, courtesy Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum M1992/005
The survivor and the object are both witnesses to history and retainers of memory, embodiments of a traumatic past but also conduits to that past, vessels through which we can contemplate the profound and ongoing impact of the Holocaust.
In these photographs history and memory fuse seamlessly together. As the events of the Holocaust recede ever further into the past, it is the human as well as historical stories that the survivors and their objects convey that will emblazon this searing memory into the hearts and minds of succeeding generations. Through contemplating the stories of these individuals in tandem with the often humble, yet deeply significant objects they hold, the past is brought to bear in the present, compelling us to grapple with its meaning now and into the future.
Production date 2016 - 2016
Subjectsurvivors, volunteers
Object namephotographs
Dimensions
- width: 295.00 mm
height: 210.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Katherine Griffiths