After Yousuf had taken some photos of Prime Ministers King and Churchill together, he hurried to the studio. Would the photographs turn out? Solange thought her worried husband looked like a “small olive, all alone”.
While the print was still wet, Yousuf and Solange saw a powerful photograph of a brave and determined Churchill. They started hugging. They knew that the photograph would do well.
They were right. The photograph was first published in Saturday Night. Then, Life magazine offered $100 to have the photograph on its cover. At the time, it was a lot of money.
In Aleppo, Syria, the day that Yousuf’s cover photograph of Churchill appeared, his little brother Salim was home from school. The principal of the school sped over to the Karsh home to show them the magazine. The family was very proud.
Yousuf had made what would become one of the most famous photographs in the world. It is known as “The Roaring Lion”.
Yousuf photographed the Dutch baby Princess Margriet, who was born safely in Canada during the war. Airplanes dropped thousands of copies of the print over Europe to inspire freedom fighters. Years later, Yousuf met a man who had been a young bay in a prison camp. When the young prisoner saw the photograph on the ground, he hid it. The boy risked death to keep the portrait of the baby that to him was a symbol of life and hope.
Yousuf on assignment for Life magazine