ACQUISITIONS
The Museum’s Permanent Collection supports the mission of the
Museum as outlined in the Museum’s Collection Management
Policy. Potential donations are screened and evaluated for
relevancy to the scope of the collections and are accepted into the
Permanent Collection upon approval of the Collections Committee.
During 2015, Holocaust Museum Houston was fortunate to receive
several works of famed photographer Roman Vishniac, donated to
the Museum’s collection by his daughter, Mara Vishniac Kohn, with
the support of the International Center of Photography (ICP).
The Museum received 15 of Vishniac’s gelatin silver prints,
highlighting Jewish life in Eastern Europe, ca. 1935-1938.
Eleven of these iconic images were placed on display in September
in a special exhibition “Photographs of Roman Vishniac: A Selection
from the Permanent Collection of Holocaust Museum Houston.”
The exhibition ends Jan. 24, 2016.
Commissioned ca. 1935 by the European office of the American
Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Vishniac began touring
the cities and villages of Eastern Europe, recording life in Jewish
communities. Through his photography, he documented poverty and
the effects of antisemitic boycotts. Since Vishniac’s death in 1990,
thousands of previously unknown photographs, spanning more than
five decades, were discovered. As a result, the ICP has established
a comprehensive archive – 40,000 objects and nearly 10,000
negatives, which are available online at
Among photographs donated to the Museum were “Boy suffering
from a toothache clutches a tattered school notebook, Slonim, ca.
1935-38,” a poignant image of a young boy with his head wrapped
to ease a toothache. Also included was “Fish seller and his wife
in the market on Friday, Kazimierz, Krakow, ca. 1935-38.” This
photograph captures a moment in Kazimierz daily life, the well-
known Jewish Quarter of Krakow, Poland.
During Nazi occupation, Oscar Schindler, whose efforts were
documented in the movie “Schindler’s List,” saved some of
the Kazimierz residents, but most were deported and died in
concentration and extermination camps.
His books
are his
companions,
Warsaw, ca.
1935-38
Fish seller and his wife in the market on Friday, Kazimierz, Krakow,
ca. 1935-38 © Mara Vishniac Kohn, courtesy International Center
of Photography.
Boy suffering from a toothache clutches a tattered school notebook,
Slonim, ca. 1935-38 © Mara Vishniac Kohn, courtesy International
Center of Photography.