Isabel Wachenheimer kijkt uit het raam, 1931-1937, Stuttgart

This photograph of Isabel Wachenheimer looking out of the window, was taken in Stuttgart sometime between 1931 and 1937, by a member of her family. It’s a poignant image, all the more so for being so small and intimate, presented in a photograph album. Photography like this was becoming increasingly popular, and accessible, at the time. Driven by innovations in industrial production, smaller cameras and pre-packaged developing kits were being marketed to a growing consumer base. Of course, it’s impossible to look at this image without considering the tragic fate of the Wachenheimer family. They were murdered in Auschwitz in 1942. What was once a tool of leisure, a marker of status, an everyday consumer item, now serves as a means of remembrance. It’s a humble, but powerful testament to the lives lost during the Holocaust. It reminds us that even the simplest objects can carry the weight of history.