Photojournalist Chen G. Schimmel, winner of the 2024 “Local Testimony Photograph of the Year Award,” announced today the release of her first book, October 7th, Bearing Witness.
Now available in stores and online, it documents the aftermath of Oct. 7, 2023, through searing photographs, testimonies, personal letters, eulogies, biblical verses and quotations. Proceeds will go to the Summit Institute’s “Dror” program, which helps rehabilitate IDF veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Only days after Oct. 7, Schimmel, 26, who grew up in London and immigrated to Israel eight years ago, made her way to Kibbutz Be’eri to bear witness. There, she documented the devastation: the ruined homes and kibbutzim, the emergency teams on site, the families forced to evacuate and the work of ZAKA rescue teams.
For the past two years, Schimmel has documented the sensitivity, the pain and the hope of the families of hostages, survivors of the Nova music festival, soldiers and reservists, and the people of Israel in their most difficult hour.
From this body of work came October 7th, Bearing Witness, which combines photographs with testimonies, eulogies, personal letters, biblical verses and quotations to serve as a visual testimony of the events that have shaped Israeli society since that day.
“Two days after Oct. 7, I went to Be’eri. The floors and walls were covered in blood. With one hand, I photographed, and with the other, I helped clean. The silence and the smell will stay with me forever. I knew I was standing in a fragment of history that must never be forgotten,” Schimmel recalls.
Since then, she has continued to capture intimate and searing moments, documenting hostage families such as those of Omer Wenkert, Evyatar David and Emily Hand, as well as wounded soldiers and displaced communities, survivors of Nova and scenes from Gaza, including the abandoned armchair of Yahya Sinwar. “It was a small symbol of victory amid an ocean of pain. I promised myself to keep photographing, even in the hardest moments, for the families, for future generations, for our country,” she adds.
The book is both a historical document and a testimony of grief alongside resilience. Its cover features a haunting image: handprints on the charred wall of a home in Be’eri. Months later, on the March of the Living, Schimmel stood inside an Auschwitz gas chamber and photographed the faint handprints and scratch marks left by victims in their final moments. Seen together, the two images speak across time. For Schimmel, the connection is deeply personal. As the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, these traces shape her vow: Never Again.
In the book’s foreword, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and first lady Michal Herzog write: “ ... As we reflect on these horrors, we must remember that it is through the lens of courageous photographers that the world has come to understand the depth of the atrocity. … Among these brave storytellers is Chen G. Schimmel, who, like many others, has borne witness to the unspeakable, making sure that future generations will remember.”
Schimmel’s work has already received wide recognition. She won the 2024 Local Testimony Photograph of the Year award and was named by The Jerusalem Post as one of its international “25 Young Visionaries,” a recognition of her place among the most influential young Jewish voices today.
Out of a sense of mission, Schimmel has dedicated all proceeds from the book to the Summit Institute’s “Dror” program, which supports IDF veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder. The program provides psychological, emotional, social and professional rehabilitation, recognizing that true recovery is only possible when all of these needs are met together.
October 7th, Bearing Witness is available at select bookstores and chengschimmel.com
Learn more about the “Dror” program: drorprogram.org.il.
