Jewish houses once branded with the yellow star of the Nazis stand empty

THE GUARDIAN

By Gwen Jones

Nigel’s pictures present us with doorways – domestic openings in a hectic cityscape inscribed with lingering evidence of human habitation. There are no people.

BUDAPEST---In his daily walks around Budapest, the Irish photographer Nigel Swann, who has lived in the city for over 10 years, has photographed the entrances to hundreds of apartment blocks – their doors, letterboxes, graffiti, vitrines and facades in various states of disrepair. Unbeknown to him, many of them 70 years ago were “yellow-star houses”. Upon discovering a list of said houses, he revisited and rephotographed all of them. From 21 June until late November 1944, all Jewish Budapest citizens were obliged to wear the yellow star and live under curfew in a designated house with the same marking, usually made out of cardboard. [link]