| Original caption: “Mit Gewalt aus Bunkern hervorgeholt. (“Forcibly pulled out of dug-outs.”) An iconic photograph of the Holocaust, depicting Jewish women and children surrendering to Schutzstaffel (SS) during the Warsaw ghetto Uprising, from Es Gibt Keinen Jüdischen Wohnbezirk in Warschau Mehr! (“There is No Jewish Quarter of Warsaw Any More!”), commonly known as the Stroop Report, after the commander of the Waffen-SS units in the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, SS-Gruppenführer Jürgen Stroop (September 26, 1895 – March 6, 1952). SS-Rottenführer Josef Blösche (February 12, 1912 – July 29, 1969) is seen at right, wearing a tie and dust goggles and holding an MP-28 submachine gun. The 3rd and final section of the Stroop Report is the Bildbericht (“Pictorial Report”). It consists of 53 photos, of which this is 1. This view was probably taken at the same time as wwii0558.jpg which also appears in the Bildbericht, as Blosche appears in the same uniform and accessories at both times. So this photo was probably taken close to Nowolipie 32. Several people have claimed to be the boy in the photo and his appearance and identity have generated much public interest. He has never been conclusively identified. Over the years, several people have claimed, or have been identified, as the boy. Tsvi Chaim Nussbaum (August 31, 1935 – July 2, 2012) saw himself in the photograph, and publicized his claim in 1982. “I never realized that everyone puts he entire weight of six million Jews on this photograph,” he said. “To me it looked like an incident in which I was involved, and that was it.” Details of his recollections did not match the Stroop Report. He went back to Poland with his parents from Palestine fleeing Arab-Jewish violence to return to be with their family to their original home, in Sandomierz in 1938. In hiding from late 1942 until July 1943, both of his parents were murdered, and he hid with his aunt and uncle outside of the Warsaw Ghetto. Believing they would return to Palestine, they emerged and went to the Hotel Polski, where they were arrested and sent to Bergen Belsen. Nussbaum didn’t recognize anyone in the photo; but he had a vivd memory of raising his hands when Nazi German guns were pointed at him. “I’m not claiming anything – there’s no reward,” he said. “I didn’t ask for this honor. I think it’s me, but I can’t honestly swear to it. A million and a half Jewish children were told to raise their hands.” Doctor Karen Ramey Burns (January 24, 1947 – January 7, 2012), a forensic anthropologist at the University of Georgia, came to the conclusion that although the mouth, nose and cheeks were consistent, there was 1 fundamental flaw: “the ear lobes of the 1943 boy appear to be attached, whereas the ear lobes of the 1945 boy are not attached. This genetic trait cannot change with age and the difference indicates the pictures are not of the same boy.” London businessman Israel “Issy” Rondel (1935 – 2017) called the Jewish Chronicle in 1978 to complain about a story identifying the child in the photo as Artur Dąb Siemiątek. He claimed the photograph was taken in 1941, and that the Nazi Germans were wearing regular Wehrmacht uniforms, not SS. There were discrepancies with his story and the photo. “I was wearing a pair of shoes that were too big for me,” he told Finklestone,” and which I borrowed from the boy on my right who worked in a baker’s shop. I had no socks on. We and other Jews were suddenly rounded up because, so we were told, an important German official had arrived. We were taken to the local police station. I stayed there a number of hours. My mother who had been searching for me arrived and we both claimed that we were not Jewish. We spoke very good Polish and somehow managed to persuade the police to let us go.” Rondel’s mother, who also lived in London, confirmed the story, and the 2 told of their escape into the care of partisans who were fighting the Germans and eventually to Russia. They were reunited there with her husband and his father, who had made a similar, near miraculous escape from forced grave-digging duties for the Nazi Germans. Roundel’s claims were roundly rejected, as the photograph appeared as part of the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943, and he had already left by that time. 1 critic stated, “That little boy died like all the rest of the people in the picture. Cut my head off, Issy Rondel is not that little boy. I have a number on my arm from Auschwitz. He opened all the old wounds, and he is making a mockery of all those who died.” Israel Rondel responded, “I’m afraid I cannot say anything at all. I’ve been wrongly accused of being all sorts of people.” Joseph Finklestone (September 25, 1924 – January 1, 2002), the editor of the Jewish Chronicle, believed that Rondel’s experiences were true, even if he wasn’t the boy in the photo. “There was more than one little boy who held up his hands,” Finklestone said. “You can imagine that there were many such occasions. There must have been hundreds of occasions when similar scenes happened all over Europe.” During Blösche’s trial in 1969, 2 women independently identified the boy as last name Siemiątek, a child of affluent parents from Łowicz. On January 24, 1977, and again on December 28, 1978, Henryk Piasecki (September 24, 1905 – April 17 2003) and Jadwiga (Judyta) Piesecka (December 18, 1903 – December 8, 1990) claimed that it was their grandnephew, Artur Dąb Siemiątek (1935 – circa 1943), the son of Leon Siemiątek (???? – circa 1942) and Sara Dąb (???? – circa 1942), of Sochaczew, and the grandson of Piesecka’s brother Josef Dąb (???? – circa 1942). Ernest Pesses Siemiątek filed testimony at Yad Vashem claiming the same in 1999. However, he claimed the family died in 1942, a year before the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, except for Artur Dąb Siemiątek. In 1999, Avraham Zeilinwarger (1904 – after 2003) contacted the Israeli Warsaw Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum and claimed the boy was his son Levi Zeilinwarger (1932 – circa 1943). He thought the photo was taken on Kupiecka Street, near Nalewki Street. Avraham, a ladies’ hairdresser by profession had escaped during 1940, to Russia, whilst employed on forced labor. Avraham also confirmed that the woman nearest to the boy, was in fact the boy’s mother, whose name was Chana Dubinski Zeilinwarger (1905 – 1943), and that he believed his wife Chana, his son Levi and his 9-year-old daughter, all perished in a Nazi concentration camp in 1943. Chana Zelinwarger died in Auschwitz. Others in the photograph are believed to be identified. Leizer Leo Aharon Kartuziński (1929 – circa 1943) was born in Warsaw to Hershel Tzvi (1891 – circa April-May 1943) and Keila Kartuziński (1893 – circa 1943). They resided in Danzig, at the time a Polish corridor and “free city” to give access to the Baltic. When Germany invaded Poland, the family returned to Warsaw. Incarcerated in the Warsaw Ghetto, Leo Kartuziński was transported to Auschwitz where he died. His sister survived to identify him in the photograph. Matylda Lamet Goldfinger, née Zackheim Ryfenstock (February 19, 1914 – March 22, 2005), the mother of Hanka Lamet, was born in Warsaw to Isak and Rosa. She survived incarceration at Majdanek Konzentrationslager (KZ; “Concentration Camp”). After the war she immigrated to Israel, married Jacob Goldfinger, and had a son David. Hana Lamet (1937 – circa 1943) was born in Warsaw to Mosze (Moshe) and Matylda Lamet. Incarcerated in the Warsaw Ghetto, Hana was transported to Majdanek and murdered there. In the background, 1st woman from the right, with 1 hand raised – Golda Stavarowski (???? – ????) was identified by her granddaughter, Gold Shulkes (???? – ????). Stavarowski did not survive, but her son Mendl survived and became a surgeon in Tel Aviv. It is not clear who took the photograph. Several different photographers contributed images to the Stroop Report. Stroop’s own assistant SS-Untersturmfuhrer (literally “Junior Storm Leader equivalent to 2nd Lieutenant) Karl Kaleschke (February 19, 1895 – ????) said that members of the German Sicherheitsdienst (SD; “Security Police”) took it, though that claim does not identify the individual photographer. Others attribute it to Albert Cusian (1902 – after 1968), a member of the Propaganda Kompanie 689 (PK; “Propaganda Company 689). Propaganda companies traveled with military units and shot photographs and film that were used in magazines and newsreels. As a PK photographer, Cusian took many pictures of street scenes and business activities in the Ghetto, often downplaying the horrible conditions of daily existence. The most likely candidate, however, appears to be SS-Obersturmbannführer (literally “Senior Storm Leader” equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel) Franz Konrad (March 1, 1906 – March 6, 1952). Nicknamed Der Warschauer Ghettokönig (“the king of the Warsaw Ghetto”) for his cruelty, Konrad was in charge of confiscating Jewish property in the Warsaw Ghetto and transporting it back to Germany. At his war crimes trial in 1951, Konrad claimed, implausibly, that he had taken the photograph as part of a secret report that would implicate Stroop in the murder of Jews. Konrad also used photography as part of his defense, responding to 1 accusation of murder with the simple statement Ich war nicht aktiv. Ich habe fotografiert, (“I didn’t take part. I was taking photographs”). Konrad’s attempts to clear his name failed, and he was hanged as a convicted war criminal, but he remains the most likely candidate, though in all likelihood, the photographer’s identity will never be known for sure. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0599.jpg |
| Image Size | 993.88 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 4439 x 3000 |
| Photographer | From Jürgen Stroop’s Report |
| Photographer Title | Propaganda Kompanie 689 |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 1, 1943 |
| Location | |
| City | Warsaw |
| State or Province | Warsaw |
| Country | Poland |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | 111-SC-224511 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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