Visualizing the Holocaust

Visualizing the Holocaust
German 357 | A Guide To Sources

http://staff.lib.muohio.edu/~presnejl/holocaust.html

Jenny Presnell | King Library | 9-3937 | presnejl@muohio.edu

Tips for Looking at Images/Visuals

Photographs have "authors". A photographer, even if they are an amateur has a perspective and brings that perspective to the photograph. It could be an issue of gender or of nationality. Even you offer perspective when you take a family snapshot. Thinking about perspective will help you understand the value of the photograph.

Think about the context in which the photograph is placed. This is especially important when looking at published (news magazines and newspapers) sources. Information is packaged and presented. With that image there might also be letters to the editor to consult, either in that issue or in subsequent issues. Look at the accompanying articles and advertisements. Is the image and the related information given a significant or an insignificant amount of space. In the case of the holocaust, is the image presented in a sympathetic context, shocking context. How is the rest of news and culture reported?

Has the publication practiced censorship?

What is left out of the image and why? Is the omission intentional?

Is the image intended as a piece of propaganda? Has the image been used as a propaganda?

Do the images make sense? Could they have been altered? http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/commissar_vanishes/

Is your photograph representative or an anomalies? When can you say that your photograph is a significant piece of historical evidence?

Sources for Holocaust Images

Print

Sources

Search Tips

Print

Life Magazine
Time Magazine
United States News
Newsweek (1945 on Microfilm)
New York Times (Microfilm)
Times (London) (Microfilm)

Indexes to Print Resources

Readers Guide To Periodical Literature (King Ref Index)
New York Times Index (King Ref Index)
Times Index (London) (AI21 .T46 -- 2nd floor )

Print

Search the table of contents as well as page by page in the journals or through the newspapers. Be careful of the pages. You may find that there is some delay in publishing photos after different concentration camps were liberated
Use one of the indexes to locate articles. Many times the references will be collected under a general heading such as World War atrocities and not under a specific camp name.
Try to think in the language of someone who lived in the 1940's.

Internet and Online Resources

Resources	Search Tips
Directories and Search Engines Librarian's Index to the Internet http://lii.org WWW-VL History http://www.ku.edu/history/VL/ Best of History Sites http://www.besthistorysites.net/ Singingfish.com http://www.singingfish.com Timepix http://www.timelifepictures.com/ Pixsearch http://www.picsearch.com/ Search enginges with special sections for images: Google http://www.google.com Altavista http://www.altavista.com/ Internet Search Engines Guide (SUNY Albany) http://library.albany.edu/internet/engines.html	Use a directory that will categorize sites by subject. These sites often provide summaries and select the best sites. This is a good place to begin. Search for something specific. A place, object or artifact. Images are representations of something concrete, not of a concept, such as Imperialism. So, look for names of camps, areas and functions within camps, etc.
Sites and Online Indexes AP Photo Archive (MU Pays for this) http://accuweather.ap.org/cgi-bin/aplaunch.pl Newseum (Holocaust) http://www.newseum.org/holocaust/ Nizkor Project http://www.nizkor.org/ Holocaust History http://www.holocaust-history.org/ U.S Holocaust Museum (see library section) http://www.ushmm.org/	Evaluation Criteria
	Look at the author of the page and the context of the photograph. Look for attribution of the photograph. Remember that you are viewing a collection that is not comprehensive, but selective. Something may be left out or may be taken from another, unreliable source. Thinking Critically About World Wide Web Resources (Grassian) http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/critical/

For Further Reading

Perlmutter, David D. Visual Historical Methods. Historical Methods 27(4)(Fall 1994): 167-185.
Burke, Peter. Eyewitnessing: The Uses of Images as Historical Evidence. Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001.
O'Connor, John E. ed. Image As Artifact: The Historical Analysis of Film and Television. Malabar, Fl: Robert E. Krieger Publishing, 1990.

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