US EditionHessy Levinsons Taft, Jewish Face of Nazi "Aryan Baby" Propaganda, Dies at 91
Hessy Levinsons Taft’s photo was used by Nazis in 1934 as the ideal Aryan baby, a cruel irony revealed decades later after her family kept the truth secret for safety.
- Hessy Levinsons Taft, who as an infant was used in Nazi propaganda, died Jan. 1 at her home in San Francisco, with her family confirming she was 91.
- In 1934, Hessy Levinsons Taft's Latvian opera‑singer parents in Berlin hired photographer Hans Ballin, who submitted her portrait to a Nazi baby contest before the family moved to Latvia in 1937.
- Joseph Goebbels, Nazi minister of public enlightenment and propaganda, chose the contest winner, and the portrait ran in pro‑Nazi outlets like Sonne ins Haus and spread into advertisements and postcards.
- Her parents feared Nazi retribution and kept the secret, rarely taking Hessy Levinsons Taft outside while displaying the framed portrait on their piano; Taft said, `My parents were both shocked by the possible consequences that this could bring and amazed at the irony of it all.`
- The story has since served as an instructive example in Holocaust histories, as Taft wrote, `It is the story of a Jewish baby selected by loyal Nazis to serve as an archetypal example of the Aryan race, the theory which the Nazis' leadership seized every opportunity to promote.
18 Articles
18 Articles
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
A Jewish baby became the face of Nazi Aryan propaganda. Her life story outlasted the lie.
Hessy Levinsons Taft, a Jewish woman whose baby photo was selected in a competition to represent the Aryan race in Nazi Germany, died on Jan. 1 at 91. Born in Berlin in 1934 to Latvian Jewish parents Jacob and Polin Levinson, Taft was photographed when she was 6 months old by a German photographer, Hans Ballin. Unbeknownst to the family, Ballin later submitted her photo to a national competition overseen by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda m…
The most famous Nazi propaganda baby is no more: Hessy Levinson Taft has died at the age of 91. She was portrayed on the cover of a Nazi propaganda magazine as "the epitome of the Aryan race," but was actually Jewish. The photo was submitted by a daring German photographer. "A good revenge," Taft herself called it.
Hessy Levinsons Taft has died at the age of 91. Her family announced this this week. As a baby, Taft was featured on the cover of a Nazi propaganda magazine in Germany. She was considered "the epitome of the Aryan race," but later revealed herself to be Jewish. Taft was born in Berlin in 1935 to Jewish parents, originally from Latvia. When she was six months old, her mother and aunt took her to a professional photo studio. There, she was photogr…
Hessy Levinsons Taft, who, ironically, became the face of Nazi propaganda as a baby, died on January 1 at her home in San Francisco, aged 91. Her life story is one of the most telling evidence of the absurdity and danger of Nazi racial ideology.
Jewish Woman Who As A Baby Was Deemed 'Perfect Aryan Child' Dies At 91
NEW YORK (VINnews) — Hessy Levinsons Taft, the Jewish woman whose photo as an infant was publicized throughout Nazi Germany for being the paragon of an Aryan baby, died at her home in San Francisco last week, according to a New York Times report. She was 91. Join our WhatsApp group Subscribe to our Daily […]
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