The picture series from Ludwigshafen am Rhein comprises 21 black-and-white photographs, all but four of which are in landscape format. Names and places are handwritten on the backs of these original prints measuring 12 x 8 cm. Stadtarchiv Mannheim (Mannheim town archives) recorded one image twice, glued 3 to 4 images at a time onto pieces of orange cardboard – the glue was applied along a transverse edge, so the captions on the back remain legible – and annotated three images.

The series documents the Jews waiting for their registration in the courtyard of Max school. Several of them look directly into the camera. Officers from the municipal police guard them and finally instruct them to board waiting buses. Bystanders watch from the edge of the schoolyard as well as from windows of the school.

37 persons depicted are known by name (35 persecutees and two people involved in the crime).

The pictures of the deportation from Ludwigshafen am Rhein come from the estate of Lina and Leo Alsbacher, who were themselves deported to Gurs on October 22, 1940. They survived, returned to Ludwigshafen after the war, and joined the Jewish community in Mannheim.

After the couple’s death, the Jewish community handed over the picture series to Stadtarchiv Mannheim in October 1971 via the assistant mayor of Mannheim, Karl Otto Watzinger (1913-2006). The entry in the inventory book was made in 1972. It is probable that the handwritten inscriptions on the backs of the pictures were made by Mr. and Mrs. Alsbacher. It is not known how the pictures came into their possession.