Israel Pre-State Photos by David Serry
Pre-State Israel-David Serry

David Serry had taken thousands of photos over his lifetime between 1913 and 1981, which feature his Jewish perspective of Middle Eastern descent community in Palestine and Israel. His son, Shlomo Serry, discovered the negatives in the early 2000s and has been working to develop them. Haaretz has shared a selection in this article. A Hebrew-language book featuring photographs from the collection is titled David Serry, Wandering Photographer and was published by the Ben-Zvi Institute.

From article:

Caption 1: Two patients at the Tzrifin military hospital, in 1949. Credit: David Serry. Via Haaretz.

Caption 2: Camels cross a bridge on Tel Aviv’s Yarkon River, in 1933. Credit: David Serry. Via Haaretz.

Caption 3: Serry took pictures of the Temple Mount, surrounded by a pristine landscape, in 1930. Credit: David Serry. Via Haaretz.

Caption 4: Tel Aviv’s Zina Dizengoff Square, in 1938. Credit: David Serry. Via Haaretz.

Caption 5: Yemenite immigrants performing gymnastics in Tel Aviv, June 1936. Credit: David Serry. Via Haaretz.

Caption 6: A young Mizrahi couple on their wedding day in Jerusalem, January 1947. Credit: David Serry. Via Haaretz.

Caption 7: Men read Hebrew newspapers with reports on Germany’s invasion of The Netherlands and Belgium, in Tel Aviv in 1940. Credit: David Serry. Via Haaretz.

Caption 8: A photo of a then-new apartment block, by David Serry. Credit: David Serry. Via Haaretz.

Caption 9: David Serry and his son Shlomo, pictured in 1950. Credit: Miriam Serry. Via Haaretz.

Caption 10: A different type of weightlifting at the Maccabiah field in Jerusalem, 1933. Credit: David Serry. Via Haaretz.

Caption 11: People posing for a photo in a Tel Aviv stairwell, 1937. Credit: David Serry. Via Haaretz.

Caption 12: Boating on the Dead Sea, October 1941. Credit: David Serry. Via Haaretz.

Caption 13: Two young women posing for a photo during the Purim holiday in Jerusalem, 1954. Credit: דוד סרי. Via Haaretz.

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