The South African Jewish Museum's archives (SAJM) Jewish Digital Archive Project is the digital component of the SAJM archive. It aims to maintain a record of Southern Africa's social, economic and political history. JDAP comprises personal narratives and special collections linked to organizations, local communities, and cultural events.
Publicity shot of A. Ratman. The Yiddish inscription reads, ‘Cordial Warshawski family. A. Ratman’. Who was A. Ratman? What did he do? What was his relationship to Annushka Varšavskienė?
It’s been noted that photographs such as this one (with the sign above the head) were common during the German occupation of Lithuania between 1915 and 1918, and were intended to be used on official identity documents. A cropped version of this photograph can be seen on Annushka Varšavskienė’s Lithuanian internal passport, that was issued in Kaunas on November 3, 1921. It’s also possible that the photograph was taken in 1921 in Berlin, when Annushka was living and studying in the city.
The Russian writing at the bottom of this formal studio portrait of a young Annushka Varšavskienė wearing a rather extraordinary hat reads ‘Sh. P. Etshein’.