Behind the Lens

Anyone who’s taken a course in Soviet history or who spent time in the Soviet Union, when there was such a thing, probably came across the photograph, of V.I. Lenin, to the left. But while the image is canonical, the photographer is all but unknown in the West. His name was Moisei Nappelbaum, and he was one of a significant number of Soviet Jewish photographers whose work, and very existence, casts Soviet, and Jewish, 20th century history in a new light. At least that’s what David Shneer argues, in a new book titled Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust. He makes his case to Sara Ivry in Monday’s episode of “Vox Tablet.”