Jerusalem Post
Jerusalem, Isreal
Friday April 20, 2001

SNAPSHOTS THAT WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SEEN:

A Forgotten Trove of 2400 Pictures Amassed by the Jews and Successfully Hidden from the Nazis—An exceptionally Rare Discovery

by Sam Orbaum

“In the hush before the Holocaust, when the future seemed perversely hopeful, you ng Jews courted, married, had babies. They were hiking, boating, sunbathing.”

“In good times, there is always a camera, to perpetuate the memories. The lived life, unhurried, oblivious that the world was about to end….”

“Weiss happened upon a forgotten trove of 2400 pictures amassed by Jews and successfully hidden from the Nazis—an exceptionally rare discovery. She devoted … years to copying, studying, and researching the photos. Incredibly, she succeeded in identifying many of these people by name, and found details of their lives….She discovered that some of them had survived, tracked them down and interviewed them.”

“Perhaps what is most astonishing and revelatory is the happiness that pervades these photos of a doomed generation: the radiating smiles, frivolity, romance, playfulness, the joy of life: the normalcy….”

“The very existence of The last Album is a minuscule triumph over the attempt to eradicate these people and their memory. It is a harrowing book, because in these pictures there is an understandable yet shocking ignorance of the looming trauma and tragedy.”

“But we know; we know what is about to descend upon these sadly, happy people.”

“It is a wonderful book, because it shows no how we died, but how we lived.