Category Archives: Children

Hands Up!

Hands Up!This haunting image of a boy too young to be a menace to anyone is familiar as a stand-alone portrait. However, it is actually part of a group shot portraying SS men as well as their Jewish prisoners in the Warsaw Ghetto. Israeli President Menachem Begin (1913-92) had a copy on his desk.

About a dozen individuals are potentially identifiable from the original photograph, and there are several candidates for the boy with his hands up. Only one person has been definitely identified in the larger group.

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The Bleeding Infant on Bloody Saturday

An infant—traumatized, possibly injured and abandoned—was one of many victims when Japanese bombers blasted Shanghai South train station to smithereens in August 1937. “Bloody Saturday.”

We know the photographer: H. S. Wong (a.k.a Wong Hai-Sheng, Wang Xiaoting and by his nickname “Newsreel”). The baby’s identity, and fate, is clouded by various competing narratives. Continue reading

Hitler’s Little Ex-Friend

Bernhardine Nienau, Chosen by Hitler

For several years before the war, Hitler entertained little Bernile at the Berghof. When her Jewish ancestry was uncovered, he unfriended her. Reluctantly. Continue reading