This is an exhibition about the Jews of Zduńska Wola. The photos were taken from the collection of the National Archives in Lodz (Sieradz branch) and the personal archives of Menachem Daum. Original photographs were attached to the applications for identity cards, which people of ZduńskaWola filed in the period from 1929 to 1934 in the District Office of Sieradz. Each Applicant for an ID card, both in the past and the present, was required to fill out a form, in which were included details such as eye color, hair color, height, face and distinguishing features. The exhibition aims to show that the Jewish people of ZduńskaWola (or elsewhere) did not distinguish themselves by anything in particular: they were common Polish residents. History teaches us, however, that they were later tagged with a special feature: they were Jews. The collection consists of more than 600 applications of Jews, which reveals the beauty of simple, old passport photos. We see office workers, corset makers, dressmakers, teachers, the owner of the dry cleaning, “Trejberki”, widows as well as women living with their husbands, shoemakers, traders, artists, hairdressers, tradesmen, industrialists, Talmud students and a Rabbi. These images teach us how diverse and interesting the Jewish community was. Among them were Orthodox, Hasidim, but also non-religious and assimilated Jews. Delving into the descriptions of the characters we find the following words in almost all of the applications: “Distinguishing features: none”. 

According to the Nazi ideology, however, they all had one truly special feature – they were Jews. That is the only reason why they became the victims of the “final solution”, the consequence of which was the annihilation of the nearly 6 million Polish and European Jews, including the nearly 10 thousand Jews of ZduńskaWola. 

The “Distinguishing features: none” exhibition is dedicated to all those Zdunskawolers who used to expect the weekly Sabbath’s aromas and for whom the world collapsed with the outbreak of World War II. The exhibition, with its metaphoric title, is a reflection on the Holocaust and on totalitarianism,  but also on human behavior in the face of danger and death and on the banality of the murdering of innocent people because of supposed differences.

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