About the photo...
American photographer Julien Bryan arrived in Warsaw by train on September 7, 1939, two days after the Polish government and the Yank press corps had exited the capital and just two days before the city was cut off by advancing German forces. Bryan spent his nights huddled with others in the American embassy basement; by day, shooting for the next two weeks, "I had the siege of Warsaw all to myself," he later wrote, "but I wasn't too happy about it."The photo was taken after a strafing by Stukas on September 14. In it, a 10-year-old girl mourns her younger sister, who was killed in the attack. Recalled Bryan, the elder sibling "leaned down and touched the dead girl's face and drew back in horror. 'Oh my beautiful sister,' she wailed, 'What have they done to you?'"
Bryan exited Warsaw on September 21. The German army entered the city on September 30. World War II was one month old.