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Understanding Past Realities of the Holocaust: Photography versus Art
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This event will bring together leading scholars to examine how visual media contribute to our understanding of the Holocaust. Berlin-based Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller and Boston-based Dr. Rachel Perry will interpret visual narratives that serve as both powerful and complex testimonies to lived experience. Through a detailed visual analysis, they will examine what photographs and works of art reveal about the individuals and communities depicted, as well as the embedded social dynamics and historical contexts.
The discussion will also address the interpretive challenges inherent in visual sources. What are the strengths and limitations of photography compared to artistic representation? How do intention, perspective, and medium influence what is shown—or left out? By examining both photographic and artistic documents, the event invites participants to reflect on how visual culture contributes to our understanding of historical truth and memory and how it continues to shape today’s engagement with the past.
The event will enhance public and expert awareness of how visual media reveal lived experiences, social dynamics, and historical truth, countering misinformation and supporting “Never Again” education in an era of AI-generated images and rising antisemitism.
Sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations New York.
Additional support from 1014/space for ideas.
Photo credit: Christoph Kreutzmüller
Biographies
Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller is a Holocaust historian und curator. He co-leads the award-winning research and documentation project “Last Seen. Pictures of Nazi Deportations” at the Selma Stern Center for Jewish History, Berlin, Germany. From 2015 to 2019, he served as a curator for the new permanent exhibition at the Jewish Museum Berlin. Previously, at Humboldt University (Berlin), he coordinated a widely acclaimed research project examining the fate of Jewish businesses in Berlin between 1930 and 1945. In his spare time, he also serves as Chair of the NGO Active Museum of Fascism and Resistance in Berlin. His study Final Sale in Berlin: The Destruction of Jewish Commercial Activity, 1930–1945 was published by Berghahn Books in 2015. His study Die fotografische Inszenierung des Verbrechens: Ein Album aus Auschwitz (co-authored with Tal Bruttmann and Stefan Hördler; Darmstadt: WBG, 2019) is widely regarded as a “milestone” in the history of photography and will be published in English soon. In 2024, Dr. Kreutzmüller participated in an online discussion, “Photography as Resistance During the Holocaust” organized by the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme.
Dr. Rachel Perry is an art historian and curator specializing in the representation and remembrance of the Holocaust and Second World War in visual culture. She teaches in the Weiss-Livnat Graduate Program in Holocaust Studies at the University of Haifa, Israel as well as in the “Holocaust and Human Rights” programme at Gratz College, Pennsylvania, United States of America. Dr. Perry is a fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Getty Foundation, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Dedalus Foundation, the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, the Yad Vashem Institute, EHRI, and CASVA. She is widely published. Her articles have appeared in several journals including Holocaust and Genocide Studies, History and Memory, Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History, French Cultural Studies, RIHA, Ars Judaica, and Images: A Journal of Jewish Art and Visual Culture. She is currently a visiting scholar at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute in Boston, United States of America, where she is working on a manuscript concerning early graphic narratives of the Holocaust.
Ms. Rachel Stern is the founding director of the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art in New York. Born and educated in Germany, Ms. Stern studied Art History and Economics at Georg-August-University in Göttingen. She immigrated to the United States in 1994, wrote for the AUFBAU and worked in the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. She has organized numerous exhibitions in Europe and the United States, and has written and lectured extensively about Nazi era persecuted artists, exile stories, and culture of memory. Ms. Stern is a 2002 recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a 2017 recipient of the Hans and Lea Grundig Prize. Ms. Stern serves on the board of the Fritz Ascher Stiftung at Stadtmuseum Berlin (Germany) and is a member of Aktives Museum Berlin. Among others, she has served on the jury of the Congressional Art Competition New York and the Hans and Lea Grundig Prize, and as a panelist for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
This event will bring together leading scholars to examine how visual media contribute to our understanding of the Holocaust. Berlin-based Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller and Boston-based Dr. Rachel Perry will interpret visual narratives that serve as both powerful and complex testimonies to lived experience. Through a detailed visual analysis, they will examine what photographs and works of art reveal about the individuals and communities depicted, as well as the embedded social dynamics and historical contexts.
The discussion will also address the interpretive challenges inherent in visual sources. What are the strengths and limitations of photography compared to artistic representation? How do intention, perspective, and medium influence what is shown—or left out? By examining both photographic and artistic documents, the event invites participants to reflect on how visual culture contributes to our understanding of historical truth and memory and how it continues to shape today’s engagement with the past.
The event will enhance public and expert awareness of how visual media reveal lived experiences, social dynamics, and historical truth, countering misinformation and supporting “Never Again” education in an era of AI-generated images and rising antisemitism.
Sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations New York.
Additional support from 1014/space for ideas.
Photo credit: Christoph Kreutzmüller
Biographies
Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller is a Holocaust historian und curator. He co-leads the award-winning research and documentation project “Last Seen. Pictures of Nazi Deportations” at the Selma Stern Center for Jewish History, Berlin, Germany. From 2015 to 2019, he served as a curator for the new permanent exhibition at the Jewish Museum Berlin. Previously, at Humboldt University (Berlin), he coordinated a widely acclaimed research project examining the fate of Jewish businesses in Berlin between 1930 and 1945. In his spare time, he also serves as Chair of the NGO Active Museum of Fascism and Resistance in Berlin. His study Final Sale in Berlin: The Destruction of Jewish Commercial Activity, 1930–1945 was published by Berghahn Books in 2015. His study Die fotografische Inszenierung des Verbrechens: Ein Album aus Auschwitz (co-authored with Tal Bruttmann and Stefan Hördler; Darmstadt: WBG, 2019) is widely regarded as a “milestone” in the history of photography and will be published in English soon. In 2024, Dr. Kreutzmüller participated in an online discussion, “Photography as Resistance During the Holocaust” organized by the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme.
Dr. Rachel Perry is an art historian and curator specializing in the representation and remembrance of the Holocaust and Second World War in visual culture. She teaches in the Weiss-Livnat Graduate Program in Holocaust Studies at the University of Haifa, Israel as well as in the “Holocaust and Human Rights” programme at Gratz College, Pennsylvania, United States of America. Dr. Perry is a fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Getty Foundation, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Dedalus Foundation, the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, the Yad Vashem Institute, EHRI, and CASVA. She is widely published. Her articles have appeared in several journals including Holocaust and Genocide Studies, History and Memory, Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History, French Cultural Studies, RIHA, Ars Judaica, and Images: A Journal of Jewish Art and Visual Culture. She is currently a visiting scholar at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute in Boston, United States of America, where she is working on a manuscript concerning early graphic narratives of the Holocaust.
Ms. Rachel Stern is the founding director of the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art in New York. Born and educated in Germany, Ms. Stern studied Art History and Economics at Georg-August-University in Göttingen. She immigrated to the United States in 1994, wrote for the AUFBAU and worked in the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. She has organized numerous exhibitions in Europe and the United States, and has written and lectured extensively about Nazi era persecuted artists, exile stories, and culture of memory. Ms. Stern is a 2002 recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a 2017 recipient of the Hans and Lea Grundig Prize. Ms. Stern serves on the board of the Fritz Ascher Stiftung at Stadtmuseum Berlin (Germany) and is a member of Aktives Museum Berlin. Among others, she has served on the jury of the Congressional Art Competition New York and the Hans and Lea Grundig Prize, and as a panelist for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
This event will bring together leading scholars to examine how visual media contribute to our understanding of the Holocaust. Berlin-based Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller and Boston-based Dr. Rachel Perry will interpret visual narratives that serve as both powerful and complex testimonies to lived experience. Through a detailed visual analysis, they will examine what photographs and works of art reveal about the individuals and communities depicted, as well as the embedded social dynamics and historical contexts.
The discussion will also address the interpretive challenges inherent in visual sources. What are the strengths and limitations of photography compared to artistic representation? How do intention, perspective, and medium influence what is shown—or left out? By examining both photographic and artistic documents, the event invites participants to reflect on how visual culture contributes to our understanding of historical truth and memory and how it continues to shape today’s engagement with the past.
The event will enhance public and expert awareness of how visual media reveal lived experiences, social dynamics, and historical truth, countering misinformation and supporting “Never Again” education in an era of AI-generated images and rising antisemitism.
Sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations New York.
Additional support from 1014/space for ideas.
Photo credit: Christoph Kreutzmüller
Biographies
Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller is a Holocaust historian und curator. He co-leads the award-winning research and documentation project “Last Seen. Pictures of Nazi Deportations” at the Selma Stern Center for Jewish History, Berlin, Germany. From 2015 to 2019, he served as a curator for the new permanent exhibition at the Jewish Museum Berlin. Previously, at Humboldt University (Berlin), he coordinated a widely acclaimed research project examining the fate of Jewish businesses in Berlin between 1930 and 1945. In his spare time, he also serves as Chair of the NGO Active Museum of Fascism and Resistance in Berlin. His study Final Sale in Berlin: The Destruction of Jewish Commercial Activity, 1930–1945 was published by Berghahn Books in 2015. His study Die fotografische Inszenierung des Verbrechens: Ein Album aus Auschwitz (co-authored with Tal Bruttmann and Stefan Hördler; Darmstadt: WBG, 2019) is widely regarded as a “milestone” in the history of photography and will be published in English soon. In 2024, Dr. Kreutzmüller participated in an online discussion, “Photography as Resistance During the Holocaust” organized by the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme.
Dr. Rachel Perry is an art historian and curator specializing in the representation and remembrance of the Holocaust and Second World War in visual culture. She teaches in the Weiss-Livnat Graduate Program in Holocaust Studies at the University of Haifa, Israel as well as in the “Holocaust and Human Rights” programme at Gratz College, Pennsylvania, United States of America. Dr. Perry is a fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Getty Foundation, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Dedalus Foundation, the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, the Yad Vashem Institute, EHRI, and CASVA. She is widely published. Her articles have appeared in several journals including Holocaust and Genocide Studies, History and Memory, Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History, French Cultural Studies, RIHA, Ars Judaica, and Images: A Journal of Jewish Art and Visual Culture. She is currently a visiting scholar at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute in Boston, United States of America, where she is working on a manuscript concerning early graphic narratives of the Holocaust.
Ms. Rachel Stern is the founding director of the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art in New York. Born and educated in Germany, Ms. Stern studied Art History and Economics at Georg-August-University in Göttingen. She immigrated to the United States in 1994, wrote for the AUFBAU and worked in the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. She has organized numerous exhibitions in Europe and the United States, and has written and lectured extensively about Nazi era persecuted artists, exile stories, and culture of memory. Ms. Stern is a 2002 recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a 2017 recipient of the Hans and Lea Grundig Prize. Ms. Stern serves on the board of the Fritz Ascher Stiftung at Stadtmuseum Berlin (Germany) and is a member of Aktives Museum Berlin. Among others, she has served on the jury of the Congressional Art Competition New York and the Hans and Lea Grundig Prize, and as a panelist for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.