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This week, we will be exploring the use of photographs as testimony. Using an article by Alice Tofts and Maiken Umbach, we will discuss the legibility of photos taken by Jewish victims of Nazi persecution and how these photographs are deployed in contemporary exhibition design. The authors focused on four case studies, comprising photos taken in Poland, Germany, and the UK, and interviewed survivors about their significance. Testimonies and personal photos, they conclude, reveal different but complementary aspects of Jewish experiences during the Holocaust, and, if read together, can enrich the way in which modern audiences engage with this difficult history. Interestingly, many of the photographs discussed in this article are from the collection at the Imperial War Museum, including previously unseen private photographs which were included as part of the new exhibition in the Holocaust Galleries.

Umbach, Maiken, & Alice Tofts. (2022). “Private photos and Holocaust testimony: A complex relationship”, Holocaust Studies, DOI: 10.1080/17504902.2022.2074208