“It was a bit of a sham so that we could show off to the Germans.” Official Visual Documents from the Łódź Ghetto

Abstract The Jewish administration of the Łódź ghetto operated the ghetto's Graphics Office and ordered Jewish artists to produce official visual documents, including posters and albums depicting the activities of the enclosed district's departments and factories. These materials presented a positive image of the ghetto. Artists used modern drawing techniques in a constructivist avant-garde style, popular in prewar advertising graphics, to create these works. By analyzing artwork produced by Jewish artists from the Graphics Office, the article argues that historians have generally neglected these works because of their failure to fit into the contemporary memory of the Holocaust. Although scholars have largely viewed these materials as curiosa or varia, this article seeks to correct this assessment and recognize their potential as documents that enrich knowledge about the Holocaust and reveal previously overlooked truths.