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The initial mass killing of Jews was conucted in the East by SS Ensazgruppen, but involved Wehrmacht personnel to varying degrees. The killing was done publically, not only wih Whermacht personel observin or participating. but not uncommonly with local civilian observers. As a result there is an extensive photographc record of what the Germans were doing, most taken by the Germans themselves, mostly by men who were proud of what they were doing. SS Chief Himmler was concerned about the first chapter of the Holocaust for several reasons. He was concerned about the impact n the morale of the men invlved as it involved the shooting of women and childrn. He ws also concrned about the public nature of the killing. He was also concerned about the process. He attended one killing opertion himself ans wnearly feinted when brans and blood were spatered on his uniform. Thus the next phase of he Holocaust was desgned to be conductd in privte with at specially designd and built death camps. Here ther few obsrvers and no pubic observers. And two methods were introduced. There were still shootings, but poson gas was also introduced. In this new more controlled approach, there were no longer opportunities to take photographs which were strictly forbidden. Thus very little photographic evidence exists of the killing operations conducted at the dath camps eevn though millions were killed in these hellish operations. There is only one important excepton--what is today known as the Auschwitz Album. This is today the only known surviving photographic evidence of the mass killing opeation at Auschwitz-Birkenau or the other death camps. The photographs were taken during late-May or early-June 1944 of the Hungarian Jews being deported to Auschwitz. They were taken by Ernst Hofmann or Bernhard Walter, two SS men assigned to take ID photos and finger prints of the inmates committed to Auschwitz work camps. Such records were not made of the Jews dispacted directly to the gas chamberrs. No one knows why the SS took these photogrphs at Birkenau, but given their assignment, they were presumbably interested in photography and decided to record the dramatic historical spectacle unfolding at Birkennau. It is possible that they compiled it as a gift to a high ranking SS officer, although by 1944 the upper echelon was incresingly aware of where the War was headed and beginning to have quams about the future and involvement in such operations. It is more likely that they wanted a record of the great entrprise in which thy were participting. he Jews photographed are from Carpatho-Ruthenia which the Hungarians had seized from Czrchoslovakia. Many came from the Berehovo Ghetto, which had served as collecting point for Jews from small towns in the area. The album was found by Lilly Jacob-Zelmanovic Meier, a Hungarian Jews and Auschwitz survivor, who recognized friends and family in the photographs.
The initial mass killing of Jews was conucted in the East by SS Ensazgruppen, but involved Wehrmacht personnel to varying degrees. The killing was done publically, not only wih Whermacht personel observin or participating. but not uncommonly with local civilian observers. As a result there is an extensive photographc record of what the Germans were doing, most taken by the Germans themselves, mostly by men who were proud of what they were doing.
SS Chief Himmler was concerned about the first chapter of the Holocaust for several reasons. He was concerned about the impact n the morale of the men invlved as it involved the shooting of women and childrn. He ws also concrned about the public nature of the killing. He was also concerned about the process. He attended one killing opertion himself ans wnearly feinted when brans and blood were spatered on his uniform. Thus the next phase of he Holocaust was desgned to be conductd in privte with at specially designd and built death camps. Here ther few obsrvers and no pubic observers. And two methods were introduced. There were still shootings, but poson gas was also introduced.
In this new more controlled approach of the death camps, there were no longer opportunities to take photographs which were strictly forbidden. Thus very little photographic evidence exists of the killing operations conducted at the dath camps eevn though millions were killed in these hellish operations.
There is only one important excepton--what is today known as the Auschwitz Album. This is today the only known surviving photographic evidence of the mass killing opeation at Auschwitz-Birkenau or the other death camps.
The photographs were taken during late-May or early-June 1944 of the Hungarian Jews being deported to Auschwitz. This is known because some of the Jes in the photographs have been identified and the time frame of their deportion is known.
The Jews photographed are from Carpatho-Ruthenia which the Hungarians had seized from Czrchoslovakia. Many came from the Berehovo Ghetto, which had served as collecting point for Jews from small towns in the area. The victims are tired and eisoriented. Many are orried, but itis clear from heir expression and demeanor tht they have no idea as to what is about tohappen to them.
The photigraphs were taken by Ernst Hofmann or Bernhard Walter, two SS men assigned to take ID photos and fingerprints of the inmates committed to Auschwitz work camps. We have been unable to find anuthing more about the photographers.
ID records were not made of the Jews dispacted directly to the gas chambers. There are 56 pages and 193 photos in the album.
The album depicts the process at Birkenau, everthing except the atual killing and bodies. The killing process in Auscwatiz had begun to wind down by early-1944. Most of the Jews in occupied counties had been mirdered and now the War had turned against Germany. Te Red army had retaken huge areas n the East and now were on the brders of pre-War Poland where the death camps re located. Some of th camps had already been closed and effots made to destoy the evidence of what had occurred there and at hundreds of sights still held by the Germans--Aktion 1005. Then the Hungarins began to exlore how to get out ofthe War. Hitler invaded Hungary and now had his hands on the Hungaria Jews. Einhmn was dispached andwith a fe monhs, transports of Jews wre rolling to Auschwitz. The camp had to be prepared. Frmer Director Rudolf Höss was dspacted to make preparationsat the Birenau killing facility. A special rail line was built from the railway station outside the camp to a ramp inside Auschwitz. Here on the Judenrampe (Jewish ramp) is where most of the photographs were taken. The Jews after getting off the tranports were divided into men and women. The children were ordered to stay with the women which would have been their natural reaction. They were then subjected to a selection process conducted by SS doctors and wardens. Those considered heatthy and the right age for work were sent into the camp. Here they were registered, deloused, given camp uniforms, and assigned to barracks. The others including the sick, elderly, children, and allwomen with cildren were sent to the gas chambers. The last photographs were taken in a birch grove just outside the crematoria where they were made to wait until their turn came in the gas chamber. They were ushered into a dresing area where thy were told to take off their clothes before entering a shower. After gassing, the bodies were inspected by a special detachment of inmates for rings and gold fillings. After this the bodies were cremated in attached ovens. The ashes were dumped in a nearby swamp.
Their belongings left on the ramp were sorted by worker inmates in a facilkity known as Cabada. These Jews were periodically gassed themselves tomake sure that there would be no surviving itnesses. The sorted belonings wereperiodically shipped back to the Reich.
No one knows why the SS took these photogrphs at Birkenau, but given their assignment, they were presumbably interested in photography and decided to record the dramatic historical spectacle unfolding at Birkennau. It is possible that they compiled it as a gift or a historical record for a high ranking SS officer, although by 1944 the upper echelon was incresingly aware of where the War was headed and beginning to have quams about the future and involvement in such operations. The album may have prepared for Richard Baer, the commandant of Auschwitz at the time the Hungarian Jews arrived and also the commander of Dora-Mittelbau, where the album was discovered. Aftr the War Baer his, but was recognised by a co-worker and arrested (DEcember 1960). On the advice of his lawyer he refused to testify and died of a heart attack in pre-trial detention (1963).
Or it may have been tht they wanted a record of the great entrprise in which they were participting. One thing is clear,this was not intended as propaganda. There is no attempt to seek out Jewish looking or unattractive inividuals which was commonydne by NAZI prpagandists. IThe photographers simply photographed the wave of humanity flowing before them, including the children.
The album was found by Lili Jacob-Zelmanovic Meier, a Hungarian Jews and Auschwitz survivor. Lili was was deported with her family after the Germans invaded Hungary to Auschwitz (late-May 1944). The family lived in Bilke a small town near Berehovo in Transcarpathian Rus. Today it is Bil'ki in Ukraine.
Her father was a cattle dealer. Jewsin the area were forcd into a ghetto. The Germans in late-May told the Jews that they were being sent to a resettlement camp and ordered to gather a few posssions. They were transported in closed box cars to Auschwitz-Birkenau. They arrived in Birenau (May 26, 1944). This happend to be a day that SS photographers photographed the arrival of the transports and the unloading and selection process on the Birkenau rail ramp.
Lili was 17 years old when she arrivd. Thefamily like the others ws divided by the by the guards and ramp workers. She describes how "three brothers went to the left with my father and the two youngest went to the right with my mother." She continues, "Me, they selected out. I looked like I would work. I ran back to my mother. The guard noticed me and ran back He beat names. He stabbed me in the arm with a bayonet. I never saw my parents again." Lililater testified against the guard in a 1964 trial in a German court in Frankfurt. And she still bears the scar of the bayonet wound.
Lili managed to survive Auschwitz and subsequent forced labor in Morchenstern, a Gross-Rosen subcamp. She was ultimately transfered to Dora-Mittelbau where she was liberated. She discovered the album containing these photographs in a drawer of a bedside table in an abandoned SS barracks used as aheathy facitity for displaced persons. She was recovering from typhus. Lili first noticed a photograph of her rabbi but then also discovered a photo of herself, many of her neighbors, and relatives. One of the most poignent photographs is one of Lili's younger broters, Yisrael and Zelig, looking frightened and bewildered. She never saw any of her family again. She brought the album with her when she immigrated to the United States. It was all she had of her family. The album may have belonged to Richard Baer, the commandant of Auschwitz at the time the Hungarian Jews arrived, but also the commander of Dora-Mittelbau, where Lili discovered the album.
Lili kept the album and showed it to interested parties.
The album's existen was known or some time. A few of the original pictures, presumably those given by Lili Jacob-Zelmanovic Meier,who discovered the album, to survivors who had identified relatives in the photographs, have been removed. One such photograph has been returned and donated to Yad Vashem. Lilibrought it as part ofher testimony at the Auschwitz trials in Frankfurt (1960s). Finally NAZI-hunter Serge Klarsfeld visited her (1980) and convinced her to donate the album to Yad Vashem in Israel. The Album is now archived there.
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