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A review by durrenmatt
The Ravine: A Family, a Photograph, a Holocaust Massacre Revealed by Wendy Lower
4.0
In Western Europe, we tend to equate the Holocaust with gas chambers and Auschwitz. But as many as 1.3 million Jews were shot in mass killings in the forests outside their own towns and villages, mainly in Ukraine.
The numbers are so large, they are difficult to grasp and therefore the author of this important book uses a photograph, clearly depicting such a mass shooting, as a way to bring to life the tragedy of a single Jewish family.
Such pictures are rare, because perpetrators of such atrocities during the Second World War generally made sure not to leave any incriminating evidence behind.
The author of the book and Holocaust researcher Wendy Lower goes on a search for the story behind the image: who were the victims, who were the perpetrators, who is the photographer and why could he take this perfectly composed photograph? And what happened after, was some form of justice done? What follows is a terrible, fascinating but in no way uncommon account of one of the hundreds of mass killings that took place in the autumn of 1941.
If you like Philippe Sands you will probably appreciate this too.
The numbers are so large, they are difficult to grasp and therefore the author of this important book uses a photograph, clearly depicting such a mass shooting, as a way to bring to life the tragedy of a single Jewish family.
Such pictures are rare, because perpetrators of such atrocities during the Second World War generally made sure not to leave any incriminating evidence behind.
The author of the book and Holocaust researcher Wendy Lower goes on a search for the story behind the image: who were the victims, who were the perpetrators, who is the photographer and why could he take this perfectly composed photograph? And what happened after, was some form of justice done? What follows is a terrible, fascinating but in no way uncommon account of one of the hundreds of mass killings that took place in the autumn of 1941.
If you like Philippe Sands you will probably appreciate this too.