Joshua Prager's Middle Column

Submitted by Gregory Jackson

A Chilling Photograph's Hidden History by Joshua Prager. WSJ December 2, 2006. A1.

Prager's article appeared in the Wall Street Journal's Middle Column.

It took him two years to find who took the picture. Then another year to get to Iran, then another year to find its connection to censorship. So in all, Prager spent nearly 4 years on an article that would probably be read for only 1 day.

The photo of 11 (9 were Kurds) "enemies" of Iran's Ayatollah, illustrated the Iranian Revolution - they were shot at gun point - even one who was a sandwhich maker. The photo won a Pulitzer prize.

Prager found the photograph in a book called Moments: Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs: A visual chronicle of our time.

"And it said there "anonymous." It said that an unknown photographer from UPI had taken this picture and I thought to myself 'wow' there must be a story there," Prager said in an online interview at wsj.com. The picture also listed camera: unknown. Film: unknown. Lens: unknown. Shutter and Aperture: unknown. And unknown everything stayed for nearly 26 years, even the photographer who took it.

Jahangir Razmi kept secret his contact sheet of photographs of the shooting. Razmi took the picture.

"Aside from the fact that he had the contact sheet (containing 70 pictures of that day) everyone who was involved in this day, from the reporter who was there with him at the execution, to his editor, to all of the people - they all say he was the one who took it," he said in that same interview.

Prager had to earn Razmi's trust. Razmi was so afraid, he hid his contact sheet and his credit for taking the photo, for 26 years. Further, some 10, or 20 people claimed they took the picture too said Monir Nahid, a mother of two of the men executed.

Prager inspires/teaches us that:

1. Sensitive topics can still be written about.
2. It's still remarkable that Prager was able to find out who is "anonymous."