In 1944, a German SS officer named Karl Höcker was stationed at Auschwitz as an adjutant to the camp's commandant. During the time he was there, the Nazi official kept a scrapbook. But this isn't like any Auschwitz documentation you've seen before. In these images, Höcker and other camp leadership and staff relax at a wooded retreat, hold sing-alongs, and smoke cigars. Josef Mengele, the camp's monstrous doctor, smiles and socializes. SS auxiliary women lounge on deck chairs, snack on berries, and get caught in a rain storm. Höcker lights a Christmas tree.
In January of this year, these rare, unnerving photographs were donated to the U.S. Holocaust Museum. Now, the museum has made them available online, along with background on Höcker and a moving comparison with the "Auschwitz album," the one other known photographic collection from the camp. The contrast between the two is terrifying, and unforgettable.
Filed under: The Holocaust, World War II, Historic Photos
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comments
Posted by bijou731 | Thu, September 20, 2007, 4:33 am PDT
I think that this is something that EVERYONE should see, lest they forget..it is heart breaking and difficult to look at, especially the two albums, one showing the horror that these people endured and the the other showing these monsters enjoying their lives..
Posted by rliebman3 | Thu, September 20, 2007, 8:28 am PDT
Absolutely amazing photos. Thank you very much for making them available.
Posted by a_israel_2000 | Thu, September 20, 2007, 9:51 am PDT
Hard to see this, happy smiling SS folks thinking about what they were doing - how is this possible?
Posted by richardberglundmd | Thu, September 20, 2007, 10:21 am PDT
chilling...
Posted by tpddada2001 | Fri, September 21, 2007, 7:08 am PDT
Absolutely horrifying, the lap of luxury amongst such torment, lst us NEVER FORGET
Posted by daveswaim2000 | Fri, September 21, 2007, 10:17 am PDT
Holocaust or is it really Holohoax? Every time you look at the numbers of dead Jews, the number changes....I guess whatever number sounds the best is the one that is used. Also, there were not even 6 million Jews in that part of Europe at the time of the so called holocaust. So, how could 6 million Jews have died? (during wartime, people die...that is a fact. It is happening right now. Toward the end of the war, the Germans were starving. So, it was hard to feed inmates of a relocation camp and because of the sickness, it was better to burn the bodies of sick inmates than bury them. Because, the water was being contaminated. Even Jewish revisionists said it was impossible to "gas" then "burn 10,000 people a day at one location and when they scrapped the walls of the shower rooms aka gas chambers, why is it they could not find any traces of poison? It makes you think. I have seen and heard so many sides to these questions, it is hard to actually know what the truth is.
Posted by daveswaim2000 | Fri, September 21, 2007, 10:20 am PDT
I'm of Jewish decent. So, don't get the wrong idea. I'm just confused at the stories that are told.
Posted by steffyh23 | Fri, September 21, 2007, 5:28 pm PDT
I WAS AT BUCHENWALD AT LIBERATION-SMELLED THE DEATH-SAW THE STACKS OF BODIES-AS AN ARMY MEDIC IN THE 120TH EVAC TREATED VICTIMS IN THE HOSPITAL WE ESTABLISHED IN SSBARRACKS. I CAN'T DESCRIBE THE DEPRESSION I FEEL-YET A MORBID CURIOSITY-THESE PHOTOS SHOULD BE SHOWN ALONG WITH THE ATROCITIES FOR POSTERITY.HUGH STEFFY,CHANDLER,AZ
Posted by red_chef69 | Sat, September 22, 2007, 6:16 am PDT
This is to daveswain2000 and anyone else, I understand that you are confused, during war records are usually destroyed so there will not be any writen record of war crimes. I also am of Jewish decent. I was raised Christian but now I am learning about my heritage and working on Baal Teshuva. I try to do a lot of research, this is what I know: Most were Jews that were killed, however you have to go back and read the history books. Hitler did not kill just jews, he killed anyone who was not Blond and Blue eyed. He Killed anyone who protested against the killings. Also people forget about the Jews in Africa that were killed. Anywhere where the German army was the Jews were killed. So If you add all of those deaths together there are probably more that 6 Million. And don't forget about Russia, They admitted killing 10 million before they stoped counting. Everyone seems to forget about them. The Holocaust continues today. Look at Darfur, How many people are looking the otherway as they did sixty years ago? How many more must die before people take real action? What are you doing to make sure that history does not repeat itself?
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