ABSTRACT

In 1986, Sybil Milton estimated that there were over two million photographs of the Holocaust in public archives. Photographs related to the Holocaust fall into different categories, such as portrayals of 'the world that was'; those taken by perpetrators, victims, by and/or for resistance groups; aerial reconnaissance photographs by the Allies; or photographs by those liberating the camps. Raul Hilberg points out that, although Jews are the most frequent figures in Holocaust photographs they contributed the smallest portion of the photographic record. The vast majority of archival photographs were taken by perpetrators or liberators. Vast numbers of photographs taken by the perpetrators survived and bear witness to the extent to which photography was a routine part of the extermination process in Nazi Germany. Collectively atrocity photographs embody a desire to record and/or flaunt the deed, staging then recording state-sanctioned murder as spectacle, entertainment even.