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Media Essay

Auschwitz Through the Lens of the SS: Frankfurt Trial - Photograph

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Auschwitz albums SS trials perpetrators

Arrival in Auschwitz-Birkenau

Large lines of people in heavy outwear in the center of snow covered several train tracks. Several uniformed guards stand at the head of the lines. The gates of Auschwitz can be seen in the background.

The ramp in Auschwitz-Birkenau, May 1944.

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Photograph from the Auschwitz Album

A large crowd of people stand next to a train of railcars. Several uniformed guards stand around the crowd. Only the guard with light skin tone, on the far right, has a visible face. The rest face away from the camera.

This photograph, part of the Auschwitz Album, was used as evidence in the Frankfurt trial. On the far right, you see Stefan Baretzki, a defendant in the trial, who was convicted partially because this photograph proves that he staffed the ramp.

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Walking to a ceremony

A group of uniformed Nazis walk down what appears to be a rural dirt road. There is a brick structure behind them, next to the road.

Walking to a ceremony; from left to right: Dr. Carl Clauberg, Dr. Enno Lolling, Karl Höcker (behind), Richard Baer, Dr. Eduard Wirths, Karl Bischoff (behind Wirths on the right) Rudolf Höss, and Karl Möckel.

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Page from Karl Höcker's album

Yuletime, 1944. Karl Höcker lights the candles on the Yule tree. [LCID: album26]

Page from Karl Höcker's album, with the caption "Yuletime, 1944." The photographs show Karl Höcker lighting the candles on the Yule tree. 1944.

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Richard Baer, Dr. Josef Mengele, and Rudolf Höss

Three uniformed male officers with light skin tone stand in a field with picnic tables behind them. The farthest two officers are talking and laughing.

This photograph shows three SS officers at the Solahütte, an SS retreat at Międzybrodzkie Lake south of Auschwitz. It was taken in late July 1944. Pictured from left to right: Richard Baer, Josef Mengele, and Rudolf Höss. All three men held leadership positions within the Auschwitz camp complex and were intimately involved in the mass murder of Jews. It is likely that this picture was taken at an event honoring Höss, who at the time was preparing to leave Auschwitz for another assignment.

The photo is from SS officer Karl Höcker's photograph album. The Höcker album includes 116 pictures taken in and around Auschwitz between June 1944 and January 1945. Among the images are photographs of official visits and ceremonies at Auschwitz, as well as personal photographs. Some of the images depict social activities that Höcker and other members of the Auschwitz camp staff participated in. This image is one of six photographs in a series. In the album, there is a handwritten caption describing the photo series as "At the Solahütte" ("Auf der Solahütte").

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