6
Living in a very crowded one-room apartment, the young give ba couple gave birth to Hessy Levinsons on May 17, 1934. She was come-
1. So
to have her picture taken. They took her to one of the best
th
nts de
photographers in Berlin, and he came out with a very beautiful r.&a
f Her parents liked it so much that they framed it and put it up
on the piano. They had thought the picture was a private family deli
photo. But soon after, a woman who helped clean the apartment deft
arrived to deliver some surprising news.
Syou know, the woman said, "1 saw Hessy on a magazine ima
cover in town
g Hessy s mother found that impossible to believe. A lot of
babies look the same, the mother explained, and surely the
helper was mistaken. But she was
No, no, the helper explained to
II Money changed hands, and the maid soon returned with
a magazine. The cover photo was exactly the same picture
that was there, resting on the plano. The magazine was a Nazi
and even one of Hitler himself reviewing the troops
e parents were terrified. Why was their Jewish infant on
the cover of a Nazi magazine
13 They contacted the photographer and tried to find or
what had really happened
14 The photographer told them that he had been asked to
submit his 10 best pictures for a beauty contest run by the Nazis
So were 10 other outstanding photographers in Germany And
he sent in Hessy's picture
15" But you knew my Hessy is a Jewish child the mothe
exclaime
16 " Yes, the photographer said, explaining there had been a
competition to find the perfect example of the Aryan race to
further Nazi philosophy:"I wanted to allow myself the pleasure
of this joke. And you see, I was right. Of all the babies. they
picked this baby as the perfect Aryan
I7 Family stories are always prone to exaggeration- but this
Appears to be true. Taft has a large collection of photographs
that show her in numerous publications and cards. I can laugh
about it now said Taft, now a chemistry professor at St, John's
