Image Before My Eyes

These images, astounding in their energy, variety and humanity, afford us a rare glimpse into the vanished Eastern European world of Jewry.

Memoirs of a Jew who was born in Amsterdam in 1933. Describes the Nazi occupation in 1940 and the anti-Jewish legislation which gradually isolated the Jews. In summer 1943 one of her sisters went into hiding; Jehudith, her parents, and her other sister were sent to Westerbork and in January 1944 to Bergen-Belsen, as part of a group of Jews meant to be exchanged for Germans living in Palestine. Only a small number of Jews were actually exchanged; many perished, like Onderwijzer's parents. When the camp was evacuated in April 1945, she and her sister were sent on a death transport, during which they were liberated. Onderwijzer and her sisters emigrated to Eretz-Israel in 1947-48.

Contents: A History of Jewish Photography in Poland --The Persistance ofthe Past --The Camera as Chronicler --Creating a Modern Existence.

A richly imagined portrait of an immigrant woman in the heady and unpredictable first half of the twentieth century. Sweeping and panoramic, You Were There Before My Eyes is the epic and intimate story of a young woman who chafes at the stifling routine and tradition of her small, turn-of-the-century Italian village. When an opportunity presents itself for her to emigrate to America, her hunger for escape compels her to leave everything behind for the gleaming promises that await her and her young husband in Mr. Ford’s factories. Determined to survive, and perhaps even thrive, young Jane finds herself navigating not just a new language and country, but a world poised upon the edge of economic and social revolution—and war. As Jane searches for inner fulfillment while building young family, the tide of history ebbs and flows. From the chaos of Ellis Island to the melting pot of industrial Detroit, You Were There Before My Eyes spills over with colorful characters and vivid period details. Maria Riva paints an authentic portrait of immigrant America and poignantly captures the ever evolving nature of the American dream.