Yaffa Eliach, Historian Who Captured Faces of the Holocaust, Dies at 79

By Elisa Meyer --
11 Nov 2016 --

Professor, historian, and scholar Yaffa Eliach will be most remembered for trying to showcase pictures of the victims of the Holocaust before it happened.

Holocaust historian and “Tower of Faces” creator Yaffa Eliach passed away on Wednesday at her home in Manhattan. Herself a Holocaust survivor, Eliach was one of the most profound historians in the history of the Holocaust. She was suffering from an illness for a long time before her death, which was confirmed by a close family friend, Thea Wieseltier.

Yaffa Eliach, Historian Who Captured Faces of the Holocaust, Dies at 79[/tweetthis]

Eliach was only four when she had to run away from her home in modern-day Lithuania when the German forces invaded Poland. All the Jews in her village were massacred by the invading forces. As her family was in hiding, she survived this tragedy. After the Soviet forces rescued the village, then known as Eishyshok, her family returned to the village. However, soon the Polish Home Army attacked the village in retaliation to the arrest of the Polish soldiers by the Soviets. She lost her mother and brother during this attack.

We mourn the loss of Yaffa Eliach. Her legacy lives on through her exhibition, the Tower of Faces & continues to impact visitors, globally. pic.twitter.com/Km0ClbecPX
— US Holocaust Museum (@HolocaustMuseum) November 10, 2016

She went to live in Israel in the year 1946, where she was married to David Eliach with whom she moved to the US. Once there, Eliach started life afresh as a teacher of history, particularly, Jewish studies at the Brooklyn College. She has since then been involved in a number of events and studies that have been carried out on the issue of the Holocaust. In fact, she is the one who started the Center for Holocaust Studies at Brooklyn in 1974. She has also published a number of books on the Holocaust.

This three-story tower displays photographs from the Yaffa Eliach Shtetl Collection.

She became more famous when she created “The Tower of Faces.” Unhappy with how the people who suffered the Holocaust were photographed – gaunt, sickly and with bulging eyes, Eliach decided to try and restore the memories of these people to dignity by displaying pictures of them when they were happy. The exhibit is on display at the United States Holocaust Museum. For Eliach, this was the perfect way to pay tribute to the victims, who would otherwise remain in the minds of people as only pale and sickly prisoners.

Eliach went on a massive hunt to trace the remaining descendants of the Jewish survivors of her village. Along with her brother, Eliach even traveled to Israel looking for these families, hoping to find old photographs of the victims. After spending close to $600,000, she succeeded in gathering around 3,000 pictures, 1,500 of which went into the “Tower of Faces.” This may be the only face where Holocaust victims are seen happy, celebrating life.

Eliach’s legacy will be carried forward by her husband, David, daughter Smadar Rosenweig, and son, Rabbi Yotav Eliach.