Struk’s aim is to explore the question of subjectivity and to demonstrate how different groups appropriated different images for their own purposes. She gives a fascinating account of one particular photograph, probably taken near Warsaw, of what looks like two Orthodox Jews digging a trench. According to her research, Nazis used the image to show their supremacy over Jews, resistance fighters used it to illustrate the persecution of Jews, and Poles built nationalist sentiment by claiming the men were digging ditches for the Polish resistance. Though much of the material in ‘Photographing the Holocaust’ is familiar, the rigorous questioning to which the images are subjected makes it feel fresh. Struk provides more questions than answers, but gives the reader a better platform from which to wonder.
