The exhibition is subtitled: German propaganda photographs and Jewish photographers of Eastern European ghettos (October 1939 – August 1944)
(…) The second part of the exhibition at the Pavillon Populaire de Montpellier, proposed by the Shoah Memorial, shows several series of photographs of ghettos in Poland. Taken by strangers – soldiers, officials or captives of the ghettos – these images without “filter” give a gripping report of the reality, illustrating in an almost clinical way one of the most sordid results of the propaganda whose exposure has, in a first, unveiled the methods of implementation. “A dictator in pictures” and “views of the ghettos” thus show two ways to apprehend the photographic medium: the image of the Führer forged by the Nazi regime, then the real situation of the Jews in the heart of the ghettos, this second corpus acting as telltale signs of the ravages that the former contributed to engender.
With this exhibition, which questions the status of documentary photography and strives to deconstruct the levers of propaganda photography, the City of Montpellier bring to mind the large stakes of the work on history and participates in the duty of memory.
Philippe Saurel
Mayor of the City of Montpellier
President of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole
Glances on the ghettos: German propaganda photographs and Jewish photographers of Eastern European ghettos (October 1939 – August 1944)
Until September 23, 2018
Pavillon Populaire
Esplanade Charles-de-Gaulle
34000 Montpellier, France
http://www.montpellier.fr/
