Looking into the Abyss: Photos of Kristallnacht

Part of The Wiener Library’s SHATTERED: Pogrom, November 1938 exhibition series.

While there are hundreds of written reports on the pogrom of November 1938 in Nazi Germany, there are only a few (mainly press) photographs in the archives of The Wiener Library. A closer look reveals that in nearly all the places where synagogues and shops were plundered photos were taken. Some were made by press photographers, passersby or by the perpetrators – a few others even by Jews. In his talk, Christoph Kreutzmueller will discuss these photographs as historical sources and analyse different scenes, motifs, postures and perspectives.