Album with 28 photographs taken by S.S. soldier Heinz Jost , 18 of which are from his well-known collection of photographs from the Warsaw Ghetto, and 10 additional photographs, most probably from the period he served as commander of Einsatzgruppe-A. Warsaw and other locations in Poland and around it, 1941 [until 1942].
Album with 28 photographs attributed to the war criminal and Nuremberg Trials convict Heinz Jost (1904-1962), who documented through his camera Jewish life in the Warsaw Ghetto in September 1941. The collection of Heinz Jost which consists of approximately 140 photographs, was revealed in 1979 by his acquaintance, the journalist Günther Schwarberg (1926-2008), who submitted them to "Yad Vashem" (without the negatives, the whereabouts of which are unknown).
Jost testified about the photographs: "I wandered through the streets behind the walls and photographed what I saw. Until then I knew nothing about what was happening behind the Ghetto walls… the starving people did not ask me for food since I was dressed as a German soldier. They were lying near houses, among the dead, and no one paid any attention to them any more…", (in: "A Day in the Warsaw Ghetto: A Birthday Trip in Hell, 19.9.1941" (Hebrew), catalogue of an exhibition in "Yad Vashem" museum, Jerusalem, 1988).
The album offered here features photographs which were developed from the original negatives, as well as photographs which did not appear in the collection which was submitted to "Yad Vashem":
· 18 photographs of Warsaw Ghetto, among them: photograph of a woman selling armbands with a Star of David, photograph of a Jewish violinist in the Ghetto, two Jewish women in a cart, and some other photographs depicting the life and hardships of Jews in the Ghetto.
· 10 photographs which are not found in Jost's collection depicting soldiers and refugees, some on the background of rural landscape. In one photograph a sign is seen pointing the way to Vitebsk, Gusino and other locations where Jewish communities were extinguished by Einsatzgruppe soldiers early in 1942 (when Jost was commander of Unit A).
On the title page appears an inscription in Russian, stating that the photographs were found in the belongings of a dead German soldier in Gdynia in northern Poland, in 1945.
Total of 28 photographs. Photographs: approximately 9X6.5 cm. Album 10.5X8 cm., overall good condition. Some stains and tears to album leaves. Front cover loose. Short inscription in German from 1939 appears on the first leaf.
Provenance: Collection of Dr. Simon Cohen.