Leipzig (dpa/sn) - In order to gain access to more than 3,000 negatives of her grandfather's photographs from the 1930s, the Jewess Nadia Vergne appealed to the public. "I want the archives of my family in Leipzig to be publicly accessible for the next generation," she said on Wednesday in the Ariowitsch House in Leipzig. Photographer Abram Mittelmann's negatives mostly show portraits of people from Leipzig. According to the City History Museum, they were found during roof work in the 1980s. Since then they have been privately owned. Although she asked, Vergne said she has not yet been granted direct access to the negatives.
Küf Kaufmann from the Jewish Community in Leipzig and the director of the Museum of City History in Leipzig, Anselm Hartinger, joined the request of the Jewish woman living in Paris. The negatives are located on around 2,200 glass plates, to which the museum and Kaufmann have not been able to access despite repeated attempts. Hence the joint appeal: "Because this is not just a Jewish issue, but one of the city's history," said Kaufmann.
It is to be feared that those glass plates are in danger, Hartinger warned. Although the rescue and restoration of the plates is a big project, it needs proof that the plates still exist, said the director.
