Mildred Fish Harnack

So, I have a -- perhaps morbid, I prefer to think, timely -- fascination with photos of victims of state repression.

I'm not alone as per David King's "Ordinary Citizens" and Tomasz Kizny's French-language "The Great Terror in the USSR 1937-1938," featuring photographs of victims of NKVD repression.

This is based off of a Gestapo mugshot of Mildred Fish Harnack, the American wife of a German anti-Nazi resister, who was guillotined on the personal order of Adolph Hitler.

It's just one more example of Nazi barbarity, every one of whom has an individual significance and should never be forgotten, each in their own right, and as warnings from history.

I'm impressed both with the high quality of the photograph itself, and the inner strength, grace and dignity of this young lady.

I like to think of this as a modern conception/continuation of the Church-sponsored tradition of Christian marteriology such as Caravaggio's "Martyrdom of St. Matthew".

2 additional images. Click to enlarge.