Many of Roman Vishniac’s photographs from the mid to late 1930s documented the suffering of families in Eastern Europe as they experienced poverty, disclocation, and antisemitism. In ca. 1935, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC), the world’s largest Jewish relief organization, hired Vishniac to document the struggles of Eastern European Jewish communities in order to raise awareness of and funds for their plight. These images became central to the AJDC’s communication e orts and are one of the last visual records, by a single photographer, of communites destroyed by the Holocaust. His later work continues to document these communities—the aftermath of the war, the plight of refugees, and ultimately how Eastern European Jews created new communities as immigrants to the United States.

Images are powerful tools in telling stories, communicating messages, and creating sympathy for causes. Today we are increasingly saturated with images from the media, many, like Vishniac’s images, touching on topics of aftermath of war, refugees, and immigration. While awareness of the differences between events past and current day is cruical, reflecting on history in the context of the present can help students think critically, inviting them to reflect on their role in navigating the ethical dilemmas of today’s world.

The following lesson focuses on several images that address refugee situations, though feel free to select your own image pairings to address other pertinent topics. 

Roman Vishniac Rediscovered is organized by the International Center of Photography. It is made possible with support from Mara Vishniac Kohn, whose generosity founded the Roman Vishniac Archive at ICP, and from the Andrew and Marina Lewin Family Foundation, Estanne and Martin Fawer, the David Berg Foundation, the Righteous Persons Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Olitsky Family Foundation, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the ICP Exhibitions Committee, James and Merryl Tisch, the Koret Foundation, and numerous additional donors.

The CJM’s presentation is made possible by Patron sponsorship from Baird, Gaia Fund, Maribelle and Stephen Leavitt, Nellie and Max Levchin, Julie and David Levine, the Righteous Persons Foundation, Dorothy R. Saxe, the Seiger Family Foundation, the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture, and Wendy and Richard Yanowitch. Supporting sponsorship has been provided by Phyllis Cook, Rosanne and Al Levitt, Joyce Linker, and Howard and Barbara Wollner. Additional support has been provided by Richard Nagler and Sheila Sosnow, and Esther and Barry Sherman.

Major support for The Contemporary Jewish Museum’s exhibitions and Jewish Peoplehood Programs comes from the Koret Foundation.

School and Teacher Programs at The Contemporary Jewish Museum are made possible by Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Target.