Simcha Shirman

Simcha Shirman was born in 1947 in St. Ottilien Archabbey

Simcha Shirman was born in 1947 at St. Ottilien in Germany, to Batya and David, both Holocaust survivors. The site had been turned into a hospital for soldiers and refugees, and his birth certificate listed him as a displaced person. In May 1948 the family immigrated to Israel and settled in Acre.

A relative from America gave him his first camera when he was 12. At 15 he set up a photography lab in a bathroom. He joined the army in 1965 and served in the Shaked patrol unit as an officer and commander.

In 1970 he went to New York to study photography. He began undergraduate studies at the School of Visual Arts in 1972 and graduate studies at the Pratt Institute in 1976, where he studied with Arthur Fried and befriended Philip Perkis. After earning an MFA in 1978, he returned with his family to Tel Aviv.

Back in Israel he built courses for teaching photography in art schools, including the history of photography. He helped found the first Biennale of Israeli Photography at the Museum of Art, Ein Harod, and headed the photography department at the Midrasha teachers college from 1981 to 1987. His work deals with memory, the Holocaust, family, the Israeli soldier, portraits and landscapes.

In March 2021 journalist Sharon Shpurer published allegations of rape and sexual exploitation of students against him. After the report, he stopped lecturing at art academies.