Gay Block

Gay Block

Rescuers

Hardcover
10 x 12 inches
256 pages
Radius Books

About the Book:

First published in 1992 to widespread acclaim, Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust is a landmark addition to the sacred memory of the Holocaust. Featuring photograph portraits, archives and interviews, it was the first book (and exhibition) by Houston-born photographer Gay Block (born 1942); the exhibition has been seen in over 50 venues in the US and abroad, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Block spent more than three years traveling in eight countries, accompanied by rabbi and author Malka Drucker, documenting testimonies from more than 100 rescuers—people who risked their lives to rescue Jewish victims from the Holocaust. The stories range from those who saved one life to those who worked in the resistance and saved thousands, always with the threat of death and torture if they were discovered. This new edition features a complete redesign and new foreword by scholar of Jewish American art Samantha Baskind.

Gay Block began her career as a portrait photographer in 1973 with portraits of her own affluent Jewish community in Houston, TX. The ever-widening expanse of her projects followed both family lines, in Camp Girls, and the Jewish community, in South Miami Beach. Her approach to portraiture is motivated by the desire to move beyond superficial representation, often making extensive audio and film recordings of conversations with her subjects. Block is as fascinated by exactly the way people tell their life stories as she is with exactly what they look like when she arrives to photograph them. Block’s multiple-award-winning short film about her mother, Bertha Alyce, has been shown in over 25 film festivals and is included with her book Bertha Alyce: Mother exPosed. Block’s photographs are included in museums and private collections throughout the United States, including the MFA Houston, MoMA, SFMOMA, and the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson. Her work is represented by Howard Greenberg in NYC.

Rabbi Malka Drucker is the author of twenty-two books, including the Southwest PEN award winner White Fire: A Portrait of Women Spiritual Leaders in America (Skylight Paths) and the New York Times Pick of the List’s Frida Kahlo (Bantam). Her most recent book is Embracing Wisdom: Soaring in the Second Half of Life. Based on the Roslans in Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust, her book Jacob’s Rescue (Bantam), has sold nearly a million copies to children all over the world. Inspired by the glory of the human spirit demonstrated by the rescuers, she became a rabbi in 1998, and serves a congregation in Idyllwild, California.

Image courtesy of Radius Books

Book review by Dana Stirling |

We often think about history books as textbooks that are used in academia, but in this case history is presented to us in a form of visual art, text, stories and first person encounters. Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust is a history book in its own unique way. In this book you don’t only read and learn, but you get to see the people behind these stories, you get a glimpse into who they are with portrait photography that is so clean, sharp and intimate, you feel like you are just across the room from them. 

For over three years, the artist accompanied by author Malka Drucker, traveled to document over 100 individuals who risked their own lives to rescue Jewish victims during the Holocaust. I think what is truly interesting about this book and the approach it took, is just how much this historical event has affects people, both victims themselves and the cultures, countries and people it involved. They represent the people who saw the war and could not stand by, they are the individuals who knew the risks of helping but knew it was the right thing to do.  This book captures a kind humanity that was present simultaneously with horrific and unimaginable cruelness. This duality, this juxtaposition shows that in darkness there are glimpses of light. With bad there is good which should not be overlooked. 

Image courtesy of Radius Books

I grew up in Israel so you can only imagine how much the Holocaust takes place in the country in various ways. Every year we have a Memorial Day where things kind of stop, we take the time to remember, to think, to come to terms with this event that is so embedded in the country’s history. We stand and listen to a horn for 2 full minutes where we all stop completely - no driving, speaking, walking, working just stopping. We often heard stories of survivors, and of those who lost their lives, we learned about the history behind the war and the facts around it. Some of us even travel to Poland to see it all in person. For me this book was not only important historically and culturally, it was also a reminder that it is also important to remember the people for who they are, who they were, their individuality that can get overlooked by the numbers. This book put a light on individuals and gives a moment to not only understand why they risks their lives, but to stop and see the people they are now. They are a key factor in the survival of many people, and although it can never undo the loss of Millions, they are the saviors of some, and that is important to know, remember and highlight.

Image courtesy of Radius Books and the artist

The portraits themselves have a whimsical charm to them. They are serious on the one hand, but there is also a delicate charm and joyfulness to many of them. They are up and personal, not being shy to get close and intimate. They are bold and pull you in deep into their eyes. 

For me, the experience of first seeing their portrait, then reading their stories and going back to the portrait, makes it special. You have a first impression, you read their words and you see them in a new light. 

 I think in a way this book deals with what it means to be human, what human behavior can be and how it manifests itself in difficult times.  As times moves on and we get further away and we lose the ability to talk to people who were there, books like this are not only a documentation for the events, but a survey for the future, a document that shows another side to the horror, that can not only teach us about these individuals but puts a mirror up in front of us to challenge who we are now, today, tomorrow. 

Image courtesy of Radius Books