Have you seen this woman?
August 16, 2015 12:19 PM Subscribe
On April 3, 1946 a young girl was photographed looking out over the ruins of the Warsaw ghetto. Sixtynine years later this picture has gone viral in Poland leading to a search for this unknown woman, who if still alive, would be in her eighties and could be living anywhere in the world.
I posted this to my Facebook account. I might possibly have some distant relations who are still in Poland and might know something.
The Jews of Warsaw paid a terrible price for their uprising.
posted by tommasz at 2:20 PM on August 16, 2015
The Jews of Warsaw paid a terrible price for their uprising.
posted by tommasz at 2:20 PM on August 16, 2015
Two different shoes.
A look through DP lists from the area, searched for proper criteria, may narrow the field.
posted by clavdivs at 2:54 PM on August 16, 2015
A look through DP lists from the area, searched for proper criteria, may narrow the field.
posted by clavdivs at 2:54 PM on August 16, 2015
She's not in her own blouse, shoes.
It brings to mind a well–known Red Cross photo from 1947: New Pair of Shoes. Thanks America.
posted by Emma May Smith at 3:34 PM on August 16, 2015 [3 favorites]
It brings to mind a well–known Red Cross photo from 1947: New Pair of Shoes. Thanks America.
posted by Emma May Smith at 3:34 PM on August 16, 2015 [3 favorites]
She is in her seventies if she were eight in that picture.
posted by Oyéah at 4:05 PM on August 16, 2015
posted by Oyéah at 4:05 PM on August 16, 2015
I am not sure this a good idea for a social media project. WWII was not kind to young women in occupied territories and ghettos. She might have very valid reasons to wish to remain unidentified if she is still alive.
posted by srboisvert at 4:53 PM on August 16, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 4:53 PM on August 16, 2015 [6 favorites]
Her face isn't clearly identifiable in the photos, so we're relying on someone remembering that a photo was taken of them 70 years ago... I hope it works but it seems impossible.
posted by miyabo at 5:13 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by miyabo at 5:13 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
What's in it for her to come forward and be discovered? To share her stories with the world. What's in it for her to stay hidden and never be discovered? To keep those painful memories hidden.
posted by oceanjesse at 6:52 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by oceanjesse at 6:52 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Jews of Warsaw paid a terrible price for their uprising.
What? That was the ghetto. They weren't living there by choice. A quarter of a million of them had already been murdered by the Nazis; the Nazis intended to kill all of them. This way, at least some survived.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:11 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
What? That was the ghetto. They weren't living there by choice. A quarter of a million of them had already been murdered by the Nazis; the Nazis intended to kill all of them. This way, at least some survived.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:11 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Jews of Warsaw paid a terrible price for their uprising.
there were two uprisings, the Jewish ghetto uprising of April-May 1943 and the general Polish uprising of Aug-Sep 1944 (most of the destruction of Warsaw came with the latter)
What the Germans had in store for the Polish nation as a whole wasn't much different from what they perpetrated against the Polish Jews, if wikipedia's summary of GeneralPlan Ost is at all accurate.
The Germans employed their massive siege mortars to destroy the city in 1944-45:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Gerät#/media/File:Warsaw_Uprising_-_Prudential_Hit_-_frame_2a.jpg
eventually employing 4 there.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 8:12 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
there were two uprisings, the Jewish ghetto uprising of April-May 1943 and the general Polish uprising of Aug-Sep 1944 (most of the destruction of Warsaw came with the latter)
What the Germans had in store for the Polish nation as a whole wasn't much different from what they perpetrated against the Polish Jews, if wikipedia's summary of GeneralPlan Ost is at all accurate.
The Germans employed their massive siege mortars to destroy the city in 1944-45:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Gerät#/media/File:Warsaw_Uprising_-_Prudential_Hit_-_frame_2a.jpg
eventually employing 4 there.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 8:12 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
The link does not work for me, perhaps too many trying to look at at once.
posted by scottymac at 8:15 PM on August 16, 2015
posted by scottymac at 8:15 PM on August 16, 2015
I don't understand the presumption that this woman is alive.
posted by Braeburn at 4:38 AM on August 17, 2015
posted by Braeburn at 4:38 AM on August 17, 2015
I don't mean to sound horrible, I just mean that 79 is pretty old.
posted by Braeburn at 4:40 AM on August 17, 2015
posted by Braeburn at 4:40 AM on August 17, 2015
It's not a presumption. That's why you keep seeing people writing the word "if."
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 5:23 AM on August 17, 2015
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 5:23 AM on August 17, 2015
It is extremely unlikely that this is a Jewish girl. Most Polish Jews did not survive the war and the ghetto was emptied and leveled on Hitler's orders following the uprising in 1943.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:22 AM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 7:22 AM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
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posted by mudpuppie at 2:03 PM on August 16, 2015 [2 favorites]