U.S. Holocaust Museum Unveils 116 Photos

[tyler811]

Link to news story


Website with photos

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday unveiled a photo album containing 116 rare photographs of senior SS officers and other officials at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The photos were taken between May and December 1944. Many were taken as the gas chambers and crematories were operating at and above capacity as the Nazis frantically sought to eliminate Jews in Europe as the war neared its end.

 

[tyler811]

Bump

 

[nick1985]

I went to that museum this summer...pretty neat place. :thumbsup:

 

[Journer]

cute doggy in the last few photos

 

[OMoT]

The album seems to glorify Auschwitz more than portray what was actually going on there.

 

[jman19]

Originally posted by: nick1985
I went to that museum this summer...pretty neat place. :thumbsup:

Well I don't know if "neat" is the word I'd use for a museum about genocide... interesting, perhaps.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: jman19

Originally posted by: nick1985
I went to that museum this summer...pretty neat place. :thumbsup:

Well I don't know if "neat" is the word I'd use for a museum about genocide... interesting, perhaps.

Maybe it wasnt the best word to use....But yes, I found the museum to be interesting.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: OMoT
The album seems to glorify Auschwitz more than portray what was actually going on there.

The Nazis were proud of what they were doing. Hitler wanted to document the Jewish people so he could show the world what he had destroyed.

edit: typo.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: OMoT
The album seems to glorify Auschwitz more than portray what was actually going on there.

The Nazis were proud of what they were doing. Hitler wanted to document the Jewish people so he could show the world what he had destroyed.

edit: typo.

I didn't see any pictures of dead or dying Jews, though. I guess that they weren't THAT proud of what they were doing.

My hunch is that they tried to keep this a secret. Many Germans who grew up around those camps claim that they didn't know what was going on there until the Americans and Russians invaded.

 

[DangerAardvark]

Originally posted by: jman19

Originally posted by: nick1985
I went to that museum this summer...pretty neat place. :thumbsup:

Well I don't know if "neat" is the word I'd use for a museum about genocide... interesting, perhaps.

Who cares? It's a museum, not the actual Holocaust. In other news, I found Schindler's List to be a swell movie.

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: OMoT
The album seems to glorify Auschwitz more than portray what was actually going on there.

I don't think it's glorifying, who would mistake it as that???
It's an insight of someone documenting the goings on behind the scenes. It has it's place in history. If anything its to illustrate on how the SS was totally removed from emotion despite what was being done under their watch.

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: OMoT
The album seems to glorify Auschwitz more than portray what was actually going on there.

The Nazis were proud of what they were doing. Hitler wanted to document the Jewish people so he could show the world what he had destroyed.

edit: typo.

I didn't see any pictures of dead or dying Jews, though. I guess that they weren't THAT proud of what they were doing.

My hunch is that they tried to keep this a secret. Many Germans who grew up around those camps claim that they didn't know what was going on there until the Americans and Russians invaded.

This album is a personal collection of an SS officer. Why would he want to include photos of the Jews in the camp in his personal album? Other than the ceremony for the Nazis killed in a bombing, the rest of the photos seem to be of times the SS officer enjoyed.

 

[Saint Michael]

[deleted]



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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The potential for trouble existed because of the choice of words.


Senior Anandtech Moderator
Common Courtesy

 

[Cattlegod]

oh my god, those women are friggin ugly.

 

[ForumMaster]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: OMoT
The album seems to glorify Auschwitz more than portray what was actually going on there.

The Nazis were proud of what they were doing. Hitler wanted to document the Jewish people so he could show the world what he had destroyed.

edit: typo.

I didn't see any pictures of dead or dying Jews, though. I guess that they weren't THAT proud of what they were doing.

My hunch is that they tried to keep this a secret. Many Germans who grew up around those camps claim that they didn't know what was going on there until the Americans and Russians invaded.

yeah about that, there were only 3 camps that the Nazi's even tried to hide: Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka. these were extermination camps that had people come and be killed. that's it. Auschwitz-Birkenau was a concentration camp as well.

during the summer, i visited these camps in Poland. none of them except the death camps were hidden. i especially remember Majdanek. it is right next to a polish town today (3KM) and wasn't that much further back in the day. you can claim that you didn't know what was going on when it is right under your nose.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
oh my god, those women are friggin ugly.

In the 30s and 40s they were considered hawt.

 

[montypythizzle]

This thread needs moar booty cutters.

 

[Kadarin]

Interesting photo album.

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster

yeah about that, there were only 3 camps that the Nazi's even tried to hide: Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka. these were extermination camps that had people come and be killed. that's it. Auschwitz-Birkenau was a concentration camp as well.

Even "concentration camp" is something of a misnomer. Britain killed 27 000 women and children in actual concentration camps during the Boer War. There was no forced labour. Auschwitz was a labour camp producing war materiel.

 

[Captante]

I visited the museum this past summer myself ... I'm a history buff & know quite a bit about most aspects of WWII including the Holocaust so I expected to find it very interesting, but I ended up spending half a day going through it with my older daughter.

The one thing that really struck me was that the reality of the huge numbers of people slaughtered ... its tough to put a handle on a number like 6 million, but when you read through the 100's of individual tragic stories it strikes home.

Also the bottom line is that a lot of people here in the USA had an idea of what was going on in those camps well before the end of WWII & everyone in Germany knew exactly what was happening.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Originally posted by: Saint Michael
Damn, those are some fine looking men. Hitler must have been right, never in my life have I seen a collection of men of such stunning beauty. They really are of the master race!

Just look here at this suave Nazi fellow. :heart:

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: Captante
The one thing that really struck me was that the reality of the huge numbers of people slaughtered ... its tough to put a handle on a number like 6 million, but when you read through the 100's of individual tragic stories it strikes home.

Also the bottom line is that a lot of people here in the USA had an idea of what was going on in those camps well before the end of WWII & everyone in Germany knew exactly what was happening.

But it was irrelevant so knowing changed nothing. Indeed, the general war enabled it and the ill-conceived policy of demanding unconditional surrender ensured escalation. The 5.8M figure is the estimated death toll of one ethnic group and is therefore only half of the total. But regardless, they were obviously not all slaughtered in the same way the British didn't slaughter those 27 000 Boer women and children. Rather they died primarily from neglect and specifically disease. As it happened, that wasn't particularly troubling to those responsible.

A case of actually knowing about and actively suppressing atrocities is when the USSR massacred 22 000 Poles after the invasion. Britain learned of it at some point but certainly as alliances shifted they were careful to cover it up and even when becoming public in 1943, opposed requests by the Polish government-in-exile for an investigation by the International Red Cross. Sinister.

 

[TheNewbie]

tagged for later

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: OMoT
The album seems to glorify Auschwitz more than portray what was actually going on there.

The Nazis were proud of what they were doing. Hitler wanted to document the Jewish people so he could show the world what he had destroyed.

edit: typo.

I didn't see any pictures of dead or dying Jews, though. I guess that they weren't THAT proud of what they were doing.

My hunch is that they tried to keep this a secret. Many Germans who grew up around those camps claim that they didn't know what was going on there until the Americans and Russians invaded.

there is a wealth of photos taken inside the concentration camps. Many were destroyed, but have no doubt that Hitler and the high command were very proud of the Final Solution. They even had plans to build a massive museum in Munich to show the world what they had destroyed.

Granted, during the war itself the Germans were not 'open' about their policies, but don't confuse being secretive with a lack of pride and dedication to the task at hand. Most of the evidence we have of what exactly happened during the holocaust comes from the Germans themselves.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: OMoT
The album seems to glorify Auschwitz more than portray what was actually going on there.

The Nazis were proud of what they were doing. Hitler wanted to document the Jewish people so he could show the world what he had destroyed.

edit: typo.

I didn't see any pictures of dead or dying Jews, though. I guess that they weren't THAT proud of what they were doing.

My hunch is that they tried to keep this a secret. Many Germans who grew up around those camps claim that they didn't know what was going on there until the Americans and Russians invaded.

yeah about that, there were only 3 camps that the Nazi's even tried to hide: Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka. these were extermination camps that had people come and be killed. that's it. Auschwitz-Birkenau was a concentration camp as well.

during the summer, i visited these camps in Poland. none of them except the death camps were hidden. i especially remember Majdanek. it is right next to a polish town today (3KM) and wasn't that much further back in the day. you can claim that you didn't know what was going on when it is right under your nose.

They knew they were being round up, which they liked. They may or may not know about the extermination bit.