Hannah Altman Uses Holocaust Victim's Restored Lenses for Auschwitz Exhibition
The exhibition "Ground Glass" opened on June 21, 2026, at ARCHER at House 88 in Oświęcim, Poland. It features restored Astro-Berlin Pan-Tachar lenses, originally crafted by Holocaust victim Lore Sternfeld, who was deported from Berlin on January 29, 1943, and subsequently murdered at Auschwitz. The lenses were restored by Focus Canning and adapted for use with a Leica digital camera. Artist Hannah Altman produced 18 images, primarily in black and white, capturing scenes from a Berlin apartment and the deportation route. The exhibition will run until January 2027.
Key facts
- Exhibition 'Ground Glass' opened June 21, 2026 at ARCHER at House 88 in Oświęcim, Poland.
- Uses restored Astro-Berlin Pan-Tachar lenses once crafted by Holocaust victim Lore Sternfeld.
- Sternfeld was deported from Berlin on January 29, 1943 and murdered at Auschwitz.
- Lenses restored by Focus Canning and adapted to a Leica digital camera.
- Counter Extremism Project acquired the lenses in early 2025.
- Altman created 18 images in a Berlin apartment and along the deportation route.
- Nearly two-thirds of the series are black and white.
- Exhibition runs through January 2027.
Entities
Artists
- Hannah Altman
- Lore Sternfeld
Institutions
- ARCHER at House 88
- Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism and Radicalization (ARCHER)
- Counter Extremism Project
- Astro-Berlin
- Focus Canning
- Leica
- Museum of Modern Art
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Getty
- Harvard University
- Stanford University
- My Modern Met
Locations
- Oświęcim
- Poland
- Berlin
- Germany
- Auschwitz