Figure 1.--We do not fully understand the badges that the German occupation forced Jews to wear. As we understand it, in the General Government it was mostly white and blue arm bands. Here this mother and child wear a the German arm band. Perhaps they lived in the areas of Western Poland annexed to the Reich. Only Jews there were subjected to a horrendous reign of terror in an effort to make these new Reich Gaus 'Juden Frei'. And the mother here and her little boy do not look like they are terribly affected yet. We do not have any details on the portrait, except that it was supposedly taken in Poland during 1940. A reader writes, "This is a very loving photograph. The boy and is mum were obviouslyn very close. You can see that in the image. It must have been summer as the mother is wearing a very pretty flower dress. The boy is dressed in a white shirt, short trousers and he is not wearing long woolen stockings. A loving but tragic picture knowing the cruelty that was being inflicted on other Jews and would evebtually reach them as well."

We do not fully understand the badges that the German occupation forced Jews to wear. As we understand it, in the General Government it was mostly white and blue arm bands. Here this mother and child wear a the German arm band. Perhaps they lived in the areas of Western Poland annexed to the Reich. Only Jews there were subjected to a horrendous reign of terror in an effort to make these new Reich Gaus 'Juden Frei'. And the mother here and her little boy do not look like they are terribly affected yet. We do not have any details on the portrait, except that it was according to the dealer taken in Poland during 1940. A reader writes, "This is a very loving photograph. The boy and is mum were obviouslyn very close. You can see that in the image. It must have been summer as the mother is wearing a very pretty flower dress. The boy is dressed in a white shirt, short trousers and he is not wearing long woolen stockings. A loving but tragic picture knowing the cruelty that was being inflicted on other Jews and would evebtually reach them as well."

Jewish Badges in Poland

We do not fully understand the badges that the German occupation forced Jews to wear. As we understand it, in the General Government, Jews mostly wore white and blue arm bands. Here this mother and child wear what would become the German star of David badge with the German word 'Jude' in the Fraktur script. These badges were used in other countries with 'Jew' in the local language. These badges were never made in Poland with the Polish word for Jew--Żyd. We are not sure just why because the popularion of Polish Jews was much larger than in Germany or any othr coutry occupied by the Germans. We suspect that the Germans were not too concerned about protecting Slavs from the Jews as they were in turn to be largely eliminated as well under Generalplan Ost. Perhaps readers will have some insight here. We are not yet sure about the badges used in the other areas of occupied Poland, the areas east and north of the GeneralnmGovernment annexed to the Reich.

Description

A reader writes, "This is a very loving photograph. The boy and is mum were obviously very close. You can see that in the image. It must have been summer as the mother is wearing a very pretty flower dress. The boy is dressed in a white shirt, short trousers and he is not wearing long woolen stockinfs. A loving but tragic picture knowing the cruelty that was being inflicted on other Jews and would evebtually reach them as well."

Identity

The individuals are not identified and we have no idea who they were or if if they survived the War. If they truly are in NAZI occupied Poland, that is unlikely.

Location

We do not know just whre the mother and little boy picturd here lived. The dealer tells us only that the portrait was 'Poland, 1940'. That may or may not be the case. We do not have the actual photograph to examine. The General Govrnment is one possibility. Perhaps they lived in the areas of Western Poland annexed to the Reich. Only Jews there were subjected to a horrendous reign of terror in an effort to make these new Reich Gaus and areas attached to existing Reich Gaus 'Juden Frei'. To us, however, the mother here and her little boy do not look like they are terribly affected yet. They are well dessed, healthy, and seemingly in good spirits.

German Propaganda

A possibility here is that this is a German propaganda photograph to show how well the Jews were being treated. A reader writes, "To me there is no misunderstanding of the image. It is all in the date and location. German controlled area of Poland and before America was in the war. The NAZIs did numerous things to try and reinforce the isolationist movement in America and by showing a staged propaganda pic that while yes we (the Germans) are identifying who are Jewish they do not look under nourished nor abused so therefore the German policies can not be as bad as some are reporting by 1940. Do we know what happened to this mother and child after the photo? For all we know they could have been shot 5 minutes later because they were no longer needed." Unfortunately we know virtually nothing about the image. I got it from eBay with just Poland 1940. That may be written on the back, but the back was not shown.

Source: Soviet War Booty

This photograph is being sold from the Ukraine, we think Soviet era war booty. Apparently Red Army soldiers took home with them the albums that German soldiers were keeping. This may have come from the belongiongs of mirdered Jews stored in German wearhouses. As far as I know, this image was not sent to America or published in American newspapers. Now it could be NAZI propaganda, although the only such propaganda I know of came from a German operation to show international observers Therisnstadt in Czechoslovakia. This raises an interesting question which I know nothing about--NAZI propaganda, other than vilifying the Jews. Another interesting topic that needs to be investigated. Looking at the expressions, I would not say it was a propaganda portrait. Tgey are hard to fake, but perhaps the German chose good actors.

Created: 7:34 PM 12/21/2013
Last updated: 7:34 PM 12/21/2013