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'Witebsk'
[nb-NO]Object number[nb-NO]M2013/026:002
[nb-NO]Title[nb-NO]'Witebsk'
[nb-NO]Description[nb-NO]This is a photograph, taken in 1941 from outside the gates of the Vitebsk Ghetto. It depicts Jewish ghetto residents looking out beyond the fences of the compound. Outside the gate there are two guards and a sign forbidding entry due to the threat of an epidemic:
'Betreten Des Ghettos
Wegen Seuchen Gefahr
Fur Wehrmachts Angehorige
Strengstens
Verboten'
It was on this pretext, of endemic disease among the interned Jewish population, that the ghetto would evetually be liquidated.
Established on the 11th of July 1941, Vitebsk Ghetto would operate for only 3 months, during which many inhabitants were routinely executed or died due to starvation and disease. On the 8th of October 1941, Einsatzgruppe, police battalions and other SS personnel were given orders to liquidate the entire ghetto populace. By the 11th of October 1941, approximately 16,000 Jews had perished by either exposure to unbearable conditions or at the hands of Einsatzgruppen killing units.
Vitebsk was one of many towns which fell within the German occupied military administration area, following German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. It was part of a broad initiative to physically annihilate Jews from the Communist states and establish ideal conditions for long-term German rule.
'Betreten Des Ghettos
Wegen Seuchen Gefahr
Fur Wehrmachts Angehorige
Strengstens
Verboten'
It was on this pretext, of endemic disease among the interned Jewish population, that the ghetto would evetually be liquidated.
Established on the 11th of July 1941, Vitebsk Ghetto would operate for only 3 months, during which many inhabitants were routinely executed or died due to starvation and disease. On the 8th of October 1941, Einsatzgruppe, police battalions and other SS personnel were given orders to liquidate the entire ghetto populace. By the 11th of October 1941, approximately 16,000 Jews had perished by either exposure to unbearable conditions or at the hands of Einsatzgruppen killing units.
Vitebsk was one of many towns which fell within the German occupied military administration area, following German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. It was part of a broad initiative to physically annihilate Jews from the Communist states and establish ideal conditions for long-term German rule.
[nb-NO]Production place[nb-NO]Belarus
[nb-NO]Date[nb-NO] 1941-07-11 - 1941-10-08
[nb-NO]Production period[nb-NO]World War II (1939-1945)
[nb-NO]Object name[nb-NO]photographs
[nb-NO]Material[nb-NO]paper
[nb-NO]Dimensions[nb-NO]
- width: 900.00 mm
height: 650.00 mm
[nb-NO]Language[nb-NO]
- German Vitebsk (referring to Vitebsk Ghetto)
[nb-NO]Credit line[nb-NO]Sydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Robert Gillespie