Through Soviet Jewish Eyes Collection

The CU Art Museum, in conjunction with the Program in Jewish Studies, has acquired more than 100 prints taken by Soviet photographers, many of whom were Jewish. These important works span the gamut of Soviet history with a particular focus on how these photographers encountered World War II and the Holocaust. Photographers represented in the CU Art Museum’s Soviet photography collection include:

Max Alpert, Russian (1899–1980); Dmitri Baltermants, Russian (1912–1990); Emmanuel Evzerichin; Olga Ignatovich; Yakov Khalip, Russian (1908–1980); Viktor Kinelovsky; Olga Lander, Russian (1919–1996); Mark Markov-Grinberg, Russian (1907–2003); Mark Redkin, Russian (1908–1987); Arkady Shaikhet, Russian (1898–1959); Mikhail Trachman, Russian (1918–1976); Victor Tyomin; Vladimir Yudin; Georgi Zelma, Russian (1906–1984)
 
From this material along with generous loans from Teresa and Paul Harbaugh, David Shneer, Louis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History, and Lisa Tamiris Becker, former director of the CU Art Museum, curated Through Soviet Jewish Eyes. The show opened at the CU Art Museum in Fall 2011 and has been traveling ever since to such sites as the in New York City and will be opening at the in February 2014.  The show highlights these photographers’ work by exhibiting material that shows what the war and the Holocaust looked like through the lens of the “other ally.â€
 

Photographs from this collection also inspired and were the subject matter of Professor Shneer’s book,  (Rutgers University Press, 2010). This book can also be purchased at the . Proceeds support the exhibition and collection, Through Soviet Jewish Eyes.

Dmitrii Baltermants, Russian (1912-1990), Grief, Kerch, Crimea, January 1942 (detail), gelatin silver print, 36.5 x 43.5 inches. Loan from Teresa and Paul Harbaugh. Photo: CU Art Museum, © Estate of Dmitrii Baltermants