Critical and Contextual Analysis

Mendel Grossman was a Jewish photographer, born in 1913, who is most famous for his photographs from the Lodz Ghetto in Poland during World War II. Grossman recorded what took place in the ghetto through photographs. He photographed everything that happened in the ghetto – for example, everyday life, conveys of men and women condemned to death in gas-vans, public executions and punishments of families. The way that he documented everything that happened inspired other Jews to keep a record of what happened by writing down events, collecting documents and scratching their names on walls. Grossman often photographed children in the ghetto.

The set image shows two jewish children from the ghetto – one dressed as a ghetto policeman. In the background, we can see a factory and buildings. Alongside this, we can see a wall towards the bottom on the background. This is possible the wall used to cut off the Lotz Ghetto from the rest of the country.

The image appears old as it is in black and white and is quite grainy. Whilst one boy is dressed as a ghetto police officer, the other boy is dressed in ordinary clothing, which appears to be quite old in terms of fashion. Overall, this shows how old the photograph is and we know it was genuinely taken during the time of World War II. The age of this photo is the studium as the fact that it comes from the war is what brings your attention in.

The photograph shows the child dressed as a policeman holding a ‘baton’, which he is hitting the other boy on the arm with. The boy also has an armband with a badge on – similar to those which Nazi’s wore. This armband is the punctum of the image. If the young boy were not wearing this, it would seem to be an innocent photograph of two boys playing a game of ‘cops and robbers’. The armband makes the image more sinister as it makes it clear that this is from the time of Nazi Germany, and that the young boy is dressed as a Nazi.

 Whilst this image evokes upset from the viewer, the initial image may not have been so malicious as we now see it. The two boys in the image appear to be smiling and having fun. This suggests that this was a game for them. In the ghettos, there was nothing to do and so perhaps this is simply two children having fun whilst they can. The fact that the child dressed as the ghetto police officer is grabbing the other boy and hitting him with the baton implies that they have seen this happen before, meaning that they have seen violence at such a young age.

Overall, in today’s society, this image would likely make the viewer upset to see as it shows two young Jewish children living in a ghetto. But, to Mendel Grossman, this may have been his way of showcasing one of the happier and more innocent moments of the war as two children played together.