USHMM: Color intensifies the reality of a world not unlike our own

 

In the age of Instagram, the black and white imagery we usually see from the time of the Holocaust, 1933–1945, in some ways distances us from the reality captured in the moment. The rare color films and photography from that period shared below bring a spark of life and intensity to the lives of prewar Europe’s Jews and sharpen the truth of the unimaginable horror they endured.   “Pristine Kodachrome Film” Captures a Prewar Jewish Community in Living Color Watch video compilation >>   Even in Color, Photos Obscure the Full Truth of the Łódź Ghetto  Find out why >>   Sharp Picture, Unclear Scene Learn why this photo is not what it seems >>   A Haunting Three Minutes: Life before a Town Was Destroyed Watch program that expands what we know >>   American Liberators Documented Atrocities at Buchenwald and Dachau Watch the truth they captured in film >>   The Night Synagogues Burned across Germany A warning sign that went unheeded >>     Tune In Facebook Live | Hispanic Americans Sacrificing to Serve Their Country Join us Thursday, September 15, at 9:30 a.m. ET for this discussion, which will be captioned in Spanish. Remind me to watch >>   Images: Still from a film shot by Benjamin Gasul in 1939 in the Jewish quarter of Warsaw. USHMM, gift of the Gasul family; Photo of the Jewish fire brigade in the Łódź ghetto taken by Walter Genewein, circa 1940–44. Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt; Under the supervision of Polish soldiers, elderly religious Jews dig anti-tank trenches to try to impede the German invasion, 1939. Julien Bryan Archive; Still from a film shot in 1938 by David Kurtz of residents of Nasielsk, Poland. USHMM, gift of Glenn Kurtz; Still from Lest We Forget, a film shot by US military members in 1945. USHMM, gift of Beth Krasna; View of the burning synagogue in Bielefeld, Germany, in November 1938 taken by Hans-Jochen Asemissen. © akg-images/Hans Asemissen; Mexican American Army medic Anthony Acevedo (center) before serving in World War II, exact date unknown. USHMM, gift of Anthony Acevedo     UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, DC 20024-2126 Main telephone: 202.488.0400 TTY: 202.488.0406