Nostalgia Sunday – Foto Rachel

December 12, 2010 - 7:14 PM by

A new exhibition opened this month at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv: Foto Rachel – Photographs from the Cyprus detention camps. It presents a wealth of photographs taken by now-84 year old Rachel Fisher who, as a young woman, documented her experience and those of her fellow detainees.

A bit of background: following the end of the Second World War, detention camps on the island of Cyprus were set up and operated by the British for the internment of Jews who attempted to enter to Mandatory Palestine in violation of immigration quotas set for Jews.

The Cyprus camps were used between August 1946 and February 1949. During this period some 52,000 immigrants were housed in two kinds of camps: tent encampments for summer and “Nissen” huts for winter.

According to exhibit curator Guy Raz, “Rachel Fisher…was born Edith Kornhauser in the Transylvanian city of Kolozsvár (today Cluj, Romania). She studied photography with her aunt and bought a Kodak camera with her own savings.

“‘This camera has been with me since I was 14 years old,” Fisher says, “I bought it in the city and began to snap photographs immediately, everywhere. At first it was a hobby, and later it turned into my profession.’”

Raz writes, “In 1944 the Jews of Transylvania were deported to Auschwitz where Fisher lost most of her family and friends. She and her mother survived; after the war they returned to Cluj, where Rachel was reunited with her childhood sweetheart, Yehudah Fisher and they got married.”

Together with Rachel’s mother, the young couple left for Palestine in December 1947 on an illegal ship that was intercepted by the British and its passengers sent to Cyprus. It was at the Karaolos summer camp where Rachel set up shop.

A young Cypriot friend smuggled photographic paper and chemicals into the camp. Fisher explains: “‘I needed a dark room. Within days we put up a darkroom in the adjacent tent. Foto Rachel. That’s where I developed my photos. I painted a kerosene lamp red, and by opening and closing the tent flap I set the exposure.”

Despite the makeshift darkroom, her professional eye captured images of people rebuilding shattered lives in temporary surroundings. “People made an attempt to live a routine life. They had children, there were weddings, and even art exhibits. Among the people were artists, architects, painters, and I worked in photography. I made some money and that was an advantage. But every day we waited to be released, so we could go to Palestine.”

Eventually, Rachel and her family did arrive but the photos, many of them only negatives, stayed in a box for 60 years. It was her grandson who convinced her to make them public. The result is a unique glimpse into a world gone by.

Foto Rachel runs through March 30, 2011.

Tags: , , , • Category: A New Reality, Art, General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Nostalgia Sunday, Picture of the Week, Profiles 

Comments

3 Comments on Nostalgia Sunday – Foto Rachel

  1. Ethel on Thu, Dec 16th 2010 1:18 AM

    2. Thanks for informing us of this important episode in Jewish and Israel history. Thank you Rachel for your persistence.

  2. G. Mandelzweig on Thu, Dec 16th 2010 9:21 PM

    3. I SHALL BE GRATEFUL IF i COULD BE INFORMED IF THERE ARE ANY PHOTOS OF DR. MARY GORDON WHO WAS IN CHARGE OF THE JEWISH WING OF THE BRITISH MILITARY HOSPITAL AT THE CAMP. I WOULD VERY MUCH APPRECIATE COPIES IF THERE ARE ANY. i AM A NEPHEW OF DR MARY GORDON.

  3. Moshe meydan on Sat, Jun 25th 2011 5:19 PM

    4. My mother was among the first to arrive to Cyprus refugee camp (summer camp). Where can I see pictures from this camp?

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