Subject: A little Jewish boy | Location: the Warsaw Ghetto | Date: Spring of 1943. The bigger picture: How one terrified boy with raised hands became the face of the Holocaust.
It is one of the best-known photographs from the Holocaust and one of the most compelling. The young Jewish boy his hands raised in the air in silent obedience to the German officer who stands behind him confronts us a symbol of the 1.5 million Jewish children who perished during those horrific years of unchecked madness and hate. Yet the boy — small terrified and momentarily set apart from the other Jews being herded into the street — is also an individual achingly so. It is perhaps no surprise therefore that some historians and journalists have tried to find out more about him: What is his name? What happened to him during the war? Did he survive or did he die? It is also perhaps not surprising that the search has uncovered more questions than answers.
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