These are a few dozen photographs, captured by the Nazis themselves, which reveal the horror of the selection of Hungarian Jews at the time of their arrival at the Auschwitz killing center station in 1944.
“The Lilli Jacob Album”, or “Auschwitz Album”, brings together 193 photographs, mainly captured near the camp station, between mid-May and early August 1944. Today considered an exceptional document, this The album was, at the time, primarily a communication tool: SS officer Rudolf Höss ordered it to reassure his superiors that his mission would be accomplished. Its goal: to show that the selection of Jews takes place without a hitch. But despite the efforts of photographers to conceal the violence of the place and the acts of resistance of the deportees, the images in the “Auschwitz Album” reveal some striking details.
Historian Tal Bruttmann, specialist in the Shoah, sheds light on some of these images for “Le Monde”, in video.
Bibliography:
“Auschwitz. A monograph on humans »by Piotr MA Cywinski: return to the “Planet Auschwitz”Tal Bruttmann, historian. Le Monde (January 2025)
Auschwitz put to the test of photography, Jean-Louis Halpérin, Genesis Social sciences and history (February 2024)
-“Un album d'Auschwitz” : escaping the gaze of the executioners, Christophe Cognet, filmmaker and essayist. Le Monde (March 2023)
Auschwitz, Multimedia Encyclopedia of the Shoah
