Bidspirit auction | Two Harsh Photos of the

Two Harsh Photos of the Execution of Jews from the Bochnia Ghetto Prior to Its Final Liquidation by the Nazis. September 1943 - Two harsh photos depicting the Einsatzgruppen ordering Jews from the Bochnia Ghetto to surrender their belongings and dig their own graves before their execution, followed by their execution by firing squad at the communal cemetery on Solna Góra. Bochnia Ghetto, September 1943. (Both photographs are captioned on the reverse in German: ”Die Juden des Ghettos Bochnia, September 1943” – The Jews of the Bochnia Ghetto, September 1943.) The Bochnia Ghetto was established by the Germans in April 1941 in the town of Bochnia, near Kraków, Poland, and at its height confined approximately 14,000 Jews from the surrounding area. It functioned as a major labor ghetto, where thousands of Jews were forced to work in support of the German war effort. On September 1, 1943, the final liquidation of the Bochnia Ghetto began. At the Umschlagplatz on Kowalska Street, the SS officer in charge, Obersturmführer Hasse, assisted by Schamburg and Müller, divided the Jews into two groups. The larger group, numbering approximately 4,000 people - including children, the elderly, and most of the inhabitants of ”Ghetto B”, was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau for extermination. Approximately 60 people (some of whom are visible in the photographs before us) were shot in the communal cemetery in Solna Góra, and their bodies were burned. The remainder, approximately 1,000 young people, were transferred to the Szebnie camp. Only a small number survived. Each photograph: 11×8 cm. Minor crack to one photograph. Some staining. Good condition.