The photographer Moshe Wąs

 "Once, the Germans entered the photo shop that belonged to my brother Mojsze [Wąs]. They searched there. Out of anger that they could not find anything - my brother had hidden his cameras in advance - they confiscated everything they thought was valuable". This is a fragment of Pola Szwarc's memories, which were included in the Sokołów Memorial Book, translated by Agata from Yiddish into Polish. Soon you will be able to read them at https://sokolow.jewish.pl/

In 1937, Moszko Wąs photographed the anti-Jewish riots in Sokołów. The photos he took then are the only ones that document those events.

After the liquidation of the Sokołów ghetto, Pola Szwarc was hiding with her husband, Abram Zajdenberg, in Warsaw and Grodzisk. In 1943, she gave birth to a son - Aaron. Soon her husband was killed by the gendarmes. She wandered around different cities with the baby, and finally gave him to a shelter for children. After the war, she bought him from his adoptive family and they left for Israel together.

The house in Sokołów shown in the photo is long gone.