NEW YORK (PIX11) -- Of the more than 5 million people who were murdered during the Holocaust, it is estimated that worldwide there are 245,000 remaining survivors. At a time of mounting antisemitism and deniers that the Holocaust ever happened, a New York photographer has set out on a mission to document survivors’ stories. She found 200 of them in and around New York City.
The faces of people who lived through a torturous and dark time in world history are now among the archives of photographer Gillian Laub. They are among the remaining survivors of the Holocaust.
They are part of a group of 200 New Yorkers who Laub found for a new photo archive of people who survived the Nazi atrocities of World War II. She said her Live to Tell project is in response to the alarming rise in antisemitism. During a visit to her Manhattan studio, Laub explained, "The statistics that 20% of young people think the Holocaust is a myth felt alarming to me, so this project felt urgent.”
With the help of Jewish organizations, Laub began her search for survivors last year and started recording their images and stories just months ago in her studios in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
“What inspired me was the hope and resilience and positivity coming from people who have seen the worst. They have really looked evil straight in the eye and they still have hope and love and compassion in their hearts,” Laub said.
Attached to the photographs she has posted on her Instagram page are quotes from the people who related how they survived when loved ones did not. Dolly Robinovitch was separated from her parents in a concentration camp. She told her chilling story to Laub.
“She was a child and asked, ‘When am I going to see my parents again?’ The Gestapo guard pointed up to the chimney. Smoke was coming out and he said, ‘See that chimney? That’s where they are.’”
Rabbi Aliza Erber relayed a tale of how she was silenced during the war.
“She said her first language was mute. She spent her infancy buried in a hole in the forest,” Laub said. “She didn't know what language was because her mouth was taped shut so the Nazis wouldn’t hear her.”
Toby Levy is another survivor who was photographed by Laub. "She said she was hidden by two angels, a non-Jewish mother and her son, and she survived because of two angels," Laub said.
Anna Malkina survived after being hidden first in a bomb shelter and then by a non-Jewish family.
During the photo shoot, Laub said, “I asked Anna what gives her hope and how does she get by in dark times, and out of nowhere she burst out singing God Bless America. And she said that’s what makes me happy.”
Laub took her project to the streets of New York City last month, projecting the images of the Holocaust survivors on 20 city landmarks, including the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a mammoth undertaking.
Laub is proud of what she accomplished. “I really wanted to see these people projected large on landmarks where you couldn’t rip down or destroy their image. The projections immortalized them. It’s like their faces were painted on the city,” Laub said.
Laub is not done yet. Later this year she plans to seek out and document other Holocaust survivors in other cities. Eventually, she plans to go to Israel where nearly half of the world's remaining survivors live to tell their stories.
“I never want to forget them,” Laub said. “Photography for me is about immortalizing someone. So this is about keeping these faces and stories alive.”
Laub’s images can be seen on Instagram and her website.
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