A rare photograph of a Jewish woman captured by an SS soldier in the forbidden for Jews area near the entrance to the Lodz ghetto. On the right you can see a sign:"wohngebiet der juden betreten verboten" - "Entry to the residential area of the Jews is prohibited", demarcating the Lodz ghetto for Jews only. October 1939.
The street where the Jewish woman is standing next to the SS soldier is Piotrkowska Street, which was the main artery of Lodz. The name of the street was changed in October 1939 to "Adolf Hitler Street". At the beginning of December, Lodz was officially annexed to the German Reich. This main artery was forbidden to the movement of Jews because it was cordoned off outside the ghetto. We found a "continuation" photograph in which the same woman is seen seconds later entering back into the ghetto, and the German soldier continues his activities. see here . And see also in Gerard Silvain's book - Yiddish land, page 114. (To illustrate, we have attached the photograph as it appears in the book, in a second picture) and see here also .
It is interesting to note: the "continuation" photo also appeared in the Yad Vashem Museum and under it the inscription: "The entrance gate to the Lodz ghetto. It is guarded by German soldiers and Polish police 24 hours a day." After an appeal on behalf of the Polish government in 2018 claiming that the Polish police did not operate at the gates of the Lodz ghetto, the museum changed the caption describing the photograph to: "The entrance to the Lodz ghetto. It was guarded around the clock by the German police." In those days, Yad Vashem spokesman explained to the Ha'aretz newspaper that "It was a mistake, which was corrected when it was brought to our attention. We wanted to be precise. The ghetto was not guarded by Polish policemen. Our historians checked, and following their recommendation, we corrected it." See here at length
7x9 cm. Slight stains. On the back of the photograph are signs of tearing from an album. Good condition.
