Trudy and Miko Schwartz's collection

'Palestine restaurant,' a haredi public's gathering, children in the snow and an unidentified junction in Jerusalem are all documented in recently discovered photos taken by Jerusalem couple

Nadav Man |Published: 02.27.10 , 09:26

Trudy and Miko Schwartz's collection of photographs has been presented in this section on several occasions. Most of the collection is documented in the Haifa University database and can be viewed here.

The Schwartz couple arrived in Israel from Czechoslovakia in 1939. Miko was a certified photographer employed by the mandatory radio authority. He also took photographs for Keren Hayesod (Foundation Fund) and the Jewish National Fund. Thanks to his photojournalist mandatory license, he visited many places: Jewish settlements, Arab villages, cities and agricultural and industrial areas.

Miko also arrived at the countries surrounding the Land of Israel, which were also controlled by the British. Those were extremely significant years for the Jewish people with the Zionist realization in the Land of Israel, World War II and the Holocaust. Miko died in 1945, and Trudy began specializing in photography.

In 1948, before the Britons left the Land of Israel, several soldiers carried out a terror attack on Ben Yehuda Street, in the heart of Jerusalem. A car bomb destroyed the couple's Photo Schwartz store. All that was left from this photography enterprise were negatives and reprints in Trudy's house.

Several boxes including hundreds of negatives were recently found in the house. Trudy had forgotten that they existed, and I decided to document that treasure as well. A number of discoveries from this "new" collection will be presented in this section in the coming weeks.

The ravages of time have damaged the notes, and there are no records of some of the negatives. Please use the talkback feature if you are able to offer any details in order to complete the missing documentation.

1. Trudy on a trip to Jericho

2. 'PR Palestine Restaurant', a respectable Arab restaurant, which was apparently located in Jerusalem, where heads of the British Mandate would also gather on different occasions

3. This photo and photographs 4-6 show a beautiful Jerusalem building from all sides. Can anyone tell us about the house and its residents?

7. Snow in Jerusalem. Recognize the junction in the picture?

8. Jerusalem's children enjoying the snow

9. This photo and photos 10-16 document one gathering (all found in one envelope of negatives) in a place which appears to be a plaza in the Old City's Jewish Quarter

10. The dome of the Hurva Synagogue

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17. A gathering in Jerusalem's Poalei Agudat Yisrael neighborhood

18. Staircase apparently leading from Zion Gate, along the wall, to the Western Wall? Does anyone recognize the location and know what happened to the staircase?