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Media Essay

Auschwitz - Photograph

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Auschwitz women children liberation concentration camps killing centers

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A large long building with a center tower sits empty with a rail line running through the middle. The field and railways in front of the building are overgrown with weeds and other debris. — Post-liberation photograph showing the main entrance to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and killing center. Beginning in spring 1942, the Nazis murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. This photograph was taken some time after Soviet forces liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, but the exact date is unknown.
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A group of three men with light skin tone carry an emaciated child. The child has a shaved head, light skin tone and is wearing next to nothing. The men are all wearing heavy outerwear. The man on the right wears a white armband with a red cross. — An emaciated child survivor is carried out of camp barracks by Soviet medics.

This photograph was taken by Soviet Jewish photojournalist Rafael Abramovich Mazelev shortly after the liberation of Auschwitz on January 27, 1945.
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Women group together in a prisoner barracks. Some of the women are laying on the floor, while others are laying on the wooden bunk beds. All of them are wearing heavy outwear or wrapped in blankets. — Women survivors huddled in a barracks after Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz camp on January 27, 1945. This image was taken in February or March 1945 as a Soviet camera crew filmed reconstructed scenes, including this one, in the liberated camp. Soviet sources indicate that these women were non-Jewish Poles who had been imprisoned in Auschwitz after the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.
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Six children of various ages walk out of a wood barrack through snow. They are all wearing heavy coats, scarves, and other kinds of winter accessories. The child in the center of the photograph is the only one that looks towards the photographer. — Child survivors of the Auschwitz camp walk out of a barrack. This photograph was taken shortly after Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp on January 27, 1945.
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Large pile of suitcases stacked together. A few buildings can be seen in the background. The closest has a sign that reads, “F.L. Auschwitz-1.” A partial stamp can be seen on the bottom of the photograph. — Stack of stolen suitcases found by Soviet forces at Auschwitz after they liberated the camp complex on January 27, 1945.

In total, Nazi German authorities deported 1.1 million Jews to Auschwitz from all over Europe. Most were murdered upon arrival in the gas chambers. In addition to committing mass murder at Auschwitz, the SS also carried out the mass plunder of Jewish-owned property. They stole the luggage and personal belongings that Jewish victims brought with them to the camp. When Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz camp complex, they found piles of these stolen items.
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Dozens of oblong bags stacked against each other. Each bag has writing on the side, describing contents and weight. Small tufts of hair are poking up between the seams of the bags. — Packages of hair shorn from Auschwitz prisoners. These packages were weighed, labeled, and prepared for shipment out of the camp. This photograph was taken after Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz camp complex in January 1945.

During World War II, Nazi German authorities collected hair shorn from concentration camp prisoners and from Jewish women murdered in the gas chambers of killing centers. Camp authorities shipped the hair to German companies, which used it to manufacture felt, yarn (thread), fabric (haircloth), stockings, and socks.
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Rail cars, discovered by Soviet forces, containing bundles to be shipped to Germany. [LCID: 85745] — Rail cars discovered by Soviet forces and containing items that the Nazis had stolen from their victims at Auschwitz.
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A uniformed physician and his assistant examine severely emaciated individuals sitting on a table. The main subject has no hair and skeletal features. — A Soviet physician examines Auschwitz camp survivors a few weeks after the liberation of Auschwitz on January 27, 1945.

This photograph was taken by Soviet Jewish photojournalist Mark Redkin on February 18, 1945. It appeared in the Soviet press in March 1945.
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Two sets of barbed wire fences around a line of large buildings. The ground is covered in snow. — View of a section of barbed-wire fence and barracks at the Auschwitz concentration camp in January 1945. This photo was taken by Stanisław Mucha, a Polish photographer, after the camp was liberated.

On January 27, 1945, Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz main camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Auschwitz-Monowitz. They found approximately 7,000 prisoners who had been left behind when the SS abandoned the camps and evacuated the prisoners on death marches.
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View of Auschwitz-Birkenau under a blanket of snow immediately after the liberation. [LCID: 58406] — Photograph of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp under a blanket of snow immediately after Soviet forces liberated the camp on January 27, 1945. This photograph was taken by Henryk Makarewicz, a Polish photographer and cinematographer. Makarewicz was a member of a documentary film crew attached to the First Polish Army (a Polish military unit affiliated with the Soviet army, commonly called Berling’s Army).
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Aerial photograph of Auschwitz 3 camp. The photograph features labels of the camp boundary, the guard tower, bomb craters, and abandoned positions. There is a black label with white text at the top that reads, “Auschwitz 3 (Buna). Monowice, Poland. 14 January 1945.” — Aerial photograph of the Monowitz camp (also called Auschwitz-Monowitz, Auschwitz III, or Buna) in German-occupied Poland. The Monowitz camp was located in the Polish village of Monowice. It was adjacent to an I. G. Farben plant that produced a type of synthetic rubber known as “Buna.” This photograph was taken on January 14, 1945, by US planes on a reconnaissance mission. Their goal was to assess the damage wrought by previous US bombing missions targeting the plant. The English labels were added to the photograph after World War II.
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Aerial photograph showing a large encampment with rows of buildings in the top left, roads, and a smaller group of buildings in the top right. — Aerial photograph of part of the Auschwitz camp complex in German-occupied Poland taken by an Allied reconnaissance unit on December 21, 1944. The Auschwitz main camp is visible in the upper right-hand corner. The straight line running through the middle of the image is a railroad track. Much of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp is visible in the upper left of the photograph.
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A grainy black and white aerial photo of several rows of long barracks in the snow. — Aerial view of barracks in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp taken after Soviet forces liberated the camp on January 27, 1945.

Nazi authorities at Auschwitz started constructing a second camp in October 1941 near the Polish village of Brzezinka (called Birkenau in German). It was known as Auschwitz-Birkenau. Auschwitz-Birkenau was part of the larger Auschwitz concentration camp complex. Beginning in March 1942, Auschwitz-Birkenau functioned as both a concentration camp and a killing center, where the Nazis murdered Jews in gas chambers.
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The inside of a large factory with tables in rows. Rows of prisoners sit on one side of the tables and work on materials in front of them. — Prisoners carrying out forced labor at the Siemens-Schuckertwerke AG factory in Bobrek, a subcamp of the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. The factory made electrical components for motors. The Bobrek camp existed from late 1943 until its evacuation in mid-January 1945. This photograph was likely taken at some point in 1944.
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A road with buildings on either side leading to a brick wall. There is a large black square on the wall. — The Black Wall, between Block 10 (left) and Block 11 (right) in the Auschwitz concentration camp, where executions of inmates took place. Poland, date unknown.
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Several people exit a cattle train car. Most are wearing heavy coats, hats, and other outerwear. A few people can be seen wearing Star of David patches. — A photograph of Jews from Hungary who have just arrived at the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center in 1944. They are disembarking the freight train on which they had been transported to the camp in inhumane conditions.

This photograph is from the Auschwitz Album (also called the “Lili Jacob Album,” after the Holocaust survivor who found it).
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A large group of people in two groups stand near empty train tracks. Guards survey the groups. The Auschwitz II-Birkenau gatehouse can be seen in the background. — A photograph of Jews from Hungary who have just arrived at the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center in 1944. They are standing in two lines in an area of Birkenau known as "the ramp," about to undergo the selection process. Women, teenage girls, and young children are in one line. In the other line are men and teenage boys. In the background, the main gate to Auschwitz-Birkenau is visible.

This photograph is from the Auschwitz Album (also called the “Lili Jacob Album,” after the Holocaust survivor who found it).
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A crowded line of women and children. Most are wearing patches of the Star of David pinned to their heavy coats. — Jewish women and children who have been selected for death at the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center walk toward the gas chambers. This photograph is one of many taken in late spring/summer 1944 as SS photographers documented the arrival, selection, and registration of transports of Jews from Hungary at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

This photograph is from the Auschwitz Album (also called the “Lili Jacob Album,” after the Holocaust survivor who found it).

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Bombing raid over part of the Auschwitz camp. Auschwitz, Poland, August 1944. [LCID: 64215] — Aerial photograph showing an American B-17 bomber over the villages of Monowice and Poręba Wielka in the vicinity of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex in German-occupied Poland. The United States military targeted the I. G. Farben synthetic rubber and fuel plant, located adjacent to the Auschwitz III camp (also called Monowitz or Buna). This photograph was taken on August 20, 1944.
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Color photograph of two long lines of candles along the railway tracks leading up to the gate at Auschwitz. It is snowing and there is already a good amount on the ground. People can be seen in the background and off to the right side. — Candles mark the railway tracks leading to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camp. Poland, January 27, 2005.
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