W–061 · September 1939 · Outskirts of Warsaw, Poland
Anna and Kazimiera
In September 1939, seven women went out to dig potatoes on the edge of besieged Warsaw. American photographer Julien Bryan later recounted that two German aircraft first bombed a nearby house. The women lay down for cover, then returned to work because they needed food. The aircraft came back and machine-gunned the field. Two women died; one was Anna Kostewicz.
1. Kazimiera beside Anna
Provenance and sources for frame 1
File and rights
A 627 × 936 reproduction from a seven-image repost. An archival scan of this exposure has not been obtained; reuse terms are unconfirmed. This selection contains seven distinct exposures, one represented by a larger The Conversation copy. The order is editorial; the sequence of exposures is not established. IPN and USHMM captions disagree on 9/13 September and the girl's age. File: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLuG1h7-yWV-wN54Ow2_IipmXj4B9A9NJm6RJDtB7E5Bwi_ZmRB9uJqdXR6Lo4sA2c0CvocnfnsNeWedt8kvi6YKYOCSDz9r-tbDQktKRX2iK-LqSzTNiOraEPIEYQQ9wHh3d3lQg2lqAB/s1600/Kazimiera+Mika+(1939)+Julien+Bryan+02.jpg
Bryan arrived after the attack. While he was photographing the dead, Anna's younger sister Kazimiera ran to her. He recalled putting his arm around the girl to comfort her; the Polish officers accompanying him were also in tears. Anna was fourteen. Sources disagree about Kazimiera's age and the date of the photographs: captions give both 9 and 13 September.
2. Another exposure
Provenance and sources for frame 2
File and rights
Public The Conversation file, 1920 × 2875, retained without additional cropping; the original negative was not obtained. This is the exposure shown first in the blog selection. No free licence has been established.
3. Clasped hands
Provenance and sources for frame 3
File and rights
Public 771 × 600 reproduction. The repost attributes the image to Bryan's sequence; a separate archival record for this exposure has not been verified. Reuse terms are unknown. File: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgddo1f_XJhKYxcHhl_VziXa4D3MfoWtkEmq8DZ0cOqHIOT8HzBAJJcD2l1Fi936mdkZFFynRjWhrXK5ieCGtFlmv1vH8z7kZaQETwiDew2SJl90wwVDOaai2e8dvs24jWQBWWyzDk-iQZF/s1600/Kazimiera+Mika+(1939)+Julien+Bryan+03.jpg
4. The field after the attack
Provenance and sources for frame 4
File and rights
Public 940 × 630 reproduction. The sequence groups this image with Bryan's shoot, but an archive source has not confirmed the individual exposure's photographer. Reuse terms are unknown. File: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjHByw-G49v21-_HwkQ7ZemU37EmMQ0cTnAmG88tK81Yccm33LdTJ2AgdWv2aIyFwBBLepvgLUiw9fMZTD3ioAk20Fkhjt0Dwc75ebu18vKPqbg2v3bOGi8B9AlBwUq84idHvyvk5L-aaq/s1600/Kazimiera+Mika+(1939)+Julien+Bryan+04.jpg
Bryan reached Warsaw on 7 September and stayed for two weeks. When he left on the 21st, he took out negatives and film showing streets under fire, wounded people and wrecked buildings. His photographs of the sisters appeared in American and European newspapers. He edited his Warsaw footage into Siege, which reached American cinemas in spring 1940.
5. At the field
Provenance and sources for frame 5
File and rights
Public 940 × 630 reproduction. The repost groups it with Bryan's shoot; the individual photographer and rights holder have not been established. File: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUbsPRnjijG1-h9GTyjffKGQhbxRnU26IlcveGaXVeMOZnD9FbwgyUeSgPOXXCNxC4ll04-9BD10eFhqxf6Bc2uhlRGzUmFgYMxPb83IukVchTsduZKv9iOQkh4IkCC9jWjrV9mVPu-WvV/s1600/Kazimiera+Mika+(1939)+Julien+Bryan+05.jpg
6. Beside a man with a camera
Provenance and sources for frame 6
File and rights
Public 618 × 940 reproduction. A separate exposure of the same people as in the following image; the photographer is unidentified. An archival confirmation of the man's identity for this exposure has not been obtained. No free licence has been established. File: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxMD8phGXKRwPQCI8HIhLWhH3Mgp15-ljq4LCOULdjREkal6ZKE62hk-apmd6Z_m8kSnTwsAtcuTfea1Zk1hMY3Nzylf9oJ7z7-Im7xF9FjmnsNpkjf2KbROi8fl0waaDbJwd7RGIUEwOM/s1600/Kazimiera+Mika+(1939)+Julien+Bryan+07.jpg
7. An embrace
Provenance and sources for frame 7
File and rights
Public 617 × 942 reproduction. IPN publishes a photograph of Bryan with Kazimiera; Commons describes such an image with a reference to USHMM photograph 50900. An exact match between this reproduction and the archival file has not been established. The photographer and reuse terms for this copy are unestablished. File: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqK5_Uu5jG-WsYKakdNv0ZSDIOr8ytFXSXeCRsLM-f_4iJqSww34rDNxXQqFKYqm0_mJS-zKx5GciDnL-NoSRssX-dU_q9y00gS3YkhT1op5FFM9qYJihClbSIn-lLKWCsrojLGRHuAvtU/s1600/Kazimiera+Mika+(1939)+Julien+Bryan+06.jpg
He returned to Warsaw in 1958 and began looking for the people he had photographed during the siege. The newspaper Express Wieczorny printed the pictures and helped him find Kazimiera. By then she was married, with the surname Mika, and raising two children. In his account for Look magazine, Bryan described her husband's work as a tram driver and her own job cleaning at a medical school. The war had ended her education. The family invited him home for dinner.
In September 2019, eighty years after the photographs were taken, Kazimiera attended an exhibition of Bryan's work in Warsaw. His son Sam was there. The photographer himself had long since died; she remembered his light-coloured suit and the way he had held her in the field. Kazimiera Mika died on 28 August 2020.