with the logo of the Foto-Forbert studio. It was a well-known pre-war atelier run by Leo Forbert and Jechiel (Henryk) Bojm. In 1923, Henryk Bojm together with photographer Leo Forbert, the owner of one of the largest photo studios in Warsaw, who photographed the film and theatre community, founded a Jewish film enterprise called Leo-Film, with its seat in Leo Forbert's studio. Together they work on the first Yiddish film of the interwar period - "The Vow" (1924). During the occupation, despite the death of his partner, Bojm did not stop running the workshop. Upon the closure of the ghetto, he moved to No. 7 Elektoralna Street.
Another evidence concerning the author is the expenditure on the photographs recorded in the Oneg Shabbat ledger, which he gave to " p. Baum" in August 1941 and at the end of March 1942. These dates correspond to details that make it possible to determine the time some of the photographs were taken - from the release of prisoners from the Central Prison (11.03.1942) or the obituaries at Karmelicka Street (end of March 1941)
Bojm's involvement is confirmed by a document preserved in the Ringelblum Archive, which says that Chil Bojm takes pictures not only for Joint (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) but also for the Jewish Social Self-help and has a permit to take photographs in the ghetto.
From the beginning of the 30s until 1939, Bojm was the most frequently published photojournalist in a famous Jewish magazine published in Polish. In search of illustrated supplements for the "New Review, he was present with his camera at almost every event: sports events, rallies, demonstrations, conventions and official visits. He often photographed crowds, made documentaries, photographed athletes and group portraits (with a significant dominance of the latter).
The topics mentioned predominate photographs commissioned by the Oneg Shabbat, [photo 3 - The Thirteen] also provide a rationale for solving the mystery of the only pre-war photo included in the collection, which does not match the others but shows the famous interwar boxer who served as a Jewish police officer in the ghetto...
Three paradigms
The title of the first part of the presentation of the photographs from the Archive at the exhibition, "Government of the oppressors", was derived from a text by Prof. Georges Didi-Huberman, which was created after he visited the Ringelblum Archive and saw the photographs: “The first of these paradigms to be documented was, logically, that of the government of the oppressors. But the Nazi oppressors themselves are hardly to be seen here; this is because they are mostly on the other side. They dominate everything, however, in power as well as in action.
wcale tu nie widać: znajdują się przecież głównie po drugiej stronie. Panują jednak nad wszystkim zarówno siłą, jak i czynami. Sprawują swoją władzę terroru zza czegoś, co stale powraca na fotografiach w tym zbiorze: to mur otaczający getto, często fotografowany dla niego samego, w ulicach to pustych, to zatłoczonych, jako miejsce nędzy lub pozornej miejskiej „normalności”. Mur getta jawiłby się więc jako bezosobowy symbol, ale też najważniejszy instrument polityki prowadzonej przez Niemców: zamykać, izolować, głodzić, zabijać.”
"Jewish police officers" A branch of the Jewish Rescue Service poses for a photograph. It was created by the Office for Combating Usury and Speculation (known as "The Thirteen"), which had been operating since May 1941. The emergency service was regarded as a quasi-help unit, designed to conceal blackmail, smuggling and extortion by "The Thirteen". Photo by Henryk (Jechiel) Bojm (?), Foto-Forbert