In these letters, Vishniac describes the horrible conditions of his internment in France after his arrest in September 1939, and also expresses disappointment that the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) has not provided the assistance necessary to facilitate his release. October 2, 1939: “Mail is distributed every day. We stand in a quad and our lieutenant calls out the names. Every time I step back disappointedly—no letter, no guarantee of loyalty, no package. Even though I write every time I’m allowed to…to all the directors of the Joint, begging them to help me—all in vain.…People who can walk around freely cannot comprehend the tragedy of sitting behind barbed wire.”

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