News
Unique Birkenau Photos Added to the Museum Collections. New Wartime Images in the Archives
The Museum’s archival collections were recently enriched by a copy of an album containing 75 photos of the SS hospital, which was located behind the SS barracks in Birkenau. The photos were taken from 1941 to 1944, apparently to illustrate the progress of construction work and for propaganda purposes.
The first images show homesteads from the village of Birkenau before demolition. Characteristically, the photographer concentrated on the oldest buildings, including thatch-roofed barns, often dilapidated, in various stages of demolition. This was intended to justify the demolition by portraying the structures as having little value; these buildings had also, it hardly needs adding, been erected by Poles.
Modern brick buildings with tiled roofs can nevertheless be seen in the background in many of the photos. Later photographs present the stages of construction work: leveling the ground, paving the streets, and, finally, raising the walls of the wooden barracks. The work was done by civilian workers and concentration camp prisoners—who, unfortunately, can be seen only in the distance.
The last pictures in the series show the interior of the hospital: the rooms for the patients, the operating room, dentist’s office, kitchen, and so on. All the interiors gleam with cleanliness. They have central heating, are equipped with solid furniture, and make the best possible impression. The contrast with the appearance of the hospital barracks for the prisoners is thus striking.
