By Marion Silver
It is 1941 in Ukraine. Soldiers wearing Red Army coats and armbands are positioned in collaboration with German soldiers. They are standing on top of a ravine with their rifles poised. A woman in a polka-dotted dress is bent over, holding the hand of a child. There are shoes on the ground, but their owner is unseen. The scene is punctuated by a burst of gunfire.
Such is the subject of a photograph explored by Dr. Wendy Lower, the award-winning author of Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields. Who were the perpetrators and who was the photographer? Dr. Lower addressed these questions at the HEM launch event on November 10th. Professor Jan Grabowski of the University of Ottawa provided an excellent overview of Jewish existence in Ukraine and the effects of the Shoah. Dr. Lower donated her speaking fees to https://babynyar.org/en
