During the last five years I have been involved in researching the town of Lunna, and by that have collected several hundred photos that show the life reality of Lunna Jews before the Second World War. Some of the photos had on them the photographer's name, while others were taken by professional or anonymous amateur photographers. The following pages present selected photos of Lunna Jews that were chosen from family albums and that provide some information about the photographers from Grodno who took them. It should be noted that those photographers took photos of Jews from other towns in the Grodno region, as well.

I am grateful to the Lunna descendants who reside in Israel and in the United States who submitted photos from their family albums; to Mr. Moshe Alperstein, a former Grodno resident, and to Mr. Eliezer Eisenshmidt, a former Lunna resident, for information about the photographers.

All the photos are presented by courtesy of the families and are not allowed to be reproduced without their permission.

During my research of the town of Lunna I corresponded extensively with Alex Gisser, son of Gerszon Gisser from Lunna, who resides in the United States. Alex has only one old photo of his grandparents. In one of his e-mail messages (December 11, 2006) he wrote:

It is a perverse world where I can consider myself fortunate to even know what my grandparents looked like.

In another message, Alex describes his feelings about the old photos I shared with him of Jews from Lunna:

…The background in these photos looks exactly like it does today - which makes things even more moving. …ALL the photos are amazing - it is both beautiful and extremely heartbreaking to see these photos…
One wants almost to shake a fist at the heavens or something at the awful crime that was perpetrated (and went unpunished) against our families, but I am exceptionally glad and feel very lucky that we can see these people when they were happy and not just as victims. The residents of Lunna, from these photos, appeared both very modern (many of the photos/suits could have been taken in the U.S.) - and the people, many of them, appeared very cosmopolitan and sophisticated, and, from my non-religious standpoint, I was especially pleased to see not many yarmulkes - a far cry from how most of the locals in Lunna now appear (or likely appeared then)…"

Indeed, how many of the other Jews who lived in Lunna are there for whom we no longer have a simple photograph or other record! I am truly humbled by having had the opportunity and privilege to assume this project, and fervently hope that I have done honor to the lost members of the Jewish community of Lunna - known and unknown - by presenting this short history.

We intend to arrange, in book form, the family stories, recollections, and photos which have been gathered. Persons who have family roots in Lunna are kindly invited to contribute to the collection. Any additions and comments would be greatly appreciated.

Please respond to: Ruth Marcus at: rotem100@yahoo.com

(Note: Click on photos to enlarge them)

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