A photograph of Jewish women and children who have just arrived at the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center in 1944. They have been separated from the men and teenaged boys who arrived with them and are lined up in an area of Birkenau known as "the ramp" before undergoing the selection process. The Nazis murdered most of the women and children pictured here in the gas chambers. An Auschwitz prisoner wearing a striped camp uniform is visible on the right side of the image. He was mostly likely part of a work detail responsible for facilitating the arrival of deportation transports at Auschwitz.
The people in this photo are some of the approximately 430,000 Jews that Nazi German authorities and their Hungarian collaborators deported to Auschwitz from Hungary in 1944. 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 at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Some of the photographs taken that day were collected in an album. Its original purpose, creator, and owner are unknown. After the war, the album was found by Holocaust survivor, Lili Jacob. It is commonly called the "Lili Jacob Album" or the "Auschwitz Album."
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of donor acknowledgement.
