A famine victim lies dead near a market in Kharkiv with some men pausing to look while others pass by
Description
- Creator
- Wienerberger, Alexander, 1891-1955, Photographer
- Media Type
- Image
- Text
- Item Types
- Photographs
- Photograph albums
- Description
- A man most likely from the countryside, lies dead on the edge of a curb. He is barefoot, destitute. The location appears to be near or within a market area, but the vendors’ windows are shuttered. The large sign above the nearest set reads in Ukrainian “ваги” translated as “scales”: a place where goods can be weighed for proper payment. At this moment, some of the passersby show interest in the victim; others don’t, or have already noticed, and now have turned away. A man holds the hand of a young boy who looks straight ahead as they walk past.
One man looks directly at the photographer. We do not know whether he is showing simple curiosity or whether he is expressing his concern for the victim to the photographer. Or, because photography of death, poverty, and so many other subjects was strictly forbidden, the man may have been signalling disapproval or a warning to Wienerberger.
See: Restriction of Photography, p.4-5 in "The Holodomor's Forbidden Photographs essay" http://vitacollections.ca/HREC-holodomorphotodirectory/3653883/data
For further information on: Starving rural migrants and urban residents in Ukraine, see "Context Note" under Related Features at right.
- Notes
- Photo source: Wienerberger, Alexander. Die Hungertragödie in Südrussland 1933; also known as the Innitzer Album, 1934. p.13.
This is one of 25 photographs depicting life and death in and around Kharkiv during the Holodomor that the photographer put together in a small album with a handwritten title: Die Hungertragödie in Südrussland 1933 [The Tragedy of Famine in South Russia 1933.] He presented the album to the Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodor Innitzer of Vienna in 1934 as an expression of appreciation for the Cardinal’s efforts in trying to organize an international campaign to assist the victims of starvation in 1933. The album is housed in the collections of the Diözesanarchiv, Vienna, Austria.
For related photo, essays, and a listing of originals and versions published through 1939 with their captions, see menus on right.
- Inscriptions
- Handwritten caption in album: “Auf den Strassen—” [On the streets--]
- Date of Original
- spring-summer 1933
- Image Dimensions
-
Image Width: 10.8cm
Image Height: 7.9cm
- Subject(s)
- Local identifier
- PD14
- Collection
- Alexander Wienerberger: Innitzer album
- Language of Item
- German
- Geographic Coverage
-
-
Kharkiv, Ukraine
Latitude: 49.98081 Longitude: 36.25272
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- Copyright Statement
- Protected by copyright: Uses other than research or private study require the permission of the rightsholder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Copyright Holder
- Samara Pearce https://www.samarapearce.com/
- Recommended Citation
- Wienerberger, Alexander. 1933. “Auf den Strassen—” in: Die Hungertragödie in Südrussland 1933. Vienna: Diözesanarchiv der Erzdiözese, [1934]. p.13. Retrieved from: http://vitacollections.ca/HREC-holodomorphotodirectory/3632503/data
- Location of Original
- Diözesanarchiv - Bibliothek, Vienna, Austria. Please contact this archive for official reproductions.
- Terms of Use
- Rightsholder requests that the name of the photographer, Alexander Wienerberger, accompany each authentic reproduction of his work.
- Reproduction Notes
- Reproduced with the permission of rightsholder Samara Pearce and the Diözesanarchiv - Bibliothek, Vienna, Austria.
