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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and Operation
of
the Gas Chambers © | |
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Page 423 |
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The first two
photographs (Photos 15 and 16) were never retouched, unlike
the third (Photo 17), three different versions of which are
known to the author: |
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1. |
The original [PMO neg. no.
282 and its enlargement, neg. no. 279] |
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2. |
First retouched version (minor
retouches only: reference not known): |
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3. |
Second retouched version. the
“exhibition photograph” hung on the first floor of Block 4
(“Extermination”), opposite the cutaway plaster model of Krematorium
II (Photo 17a [PMO neg. no. 252a]) |
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The major changes made
to Photo 17 are to be found on Photo 17a:
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The attribution of faces to the
three naked women, whereas they are totally indistinguishable on the
original, each of the three bodies received a distinct face, with
the lighting matching that of the rest of the picture: |
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Transformation of their bodies,
those of OLD women (thus unfit for work and destined for gassing and
cremation) into those of YOUNG women (thus fit for work, so they
should not be there, an embarassing contradiction which escaped the
"retoucher"), their breasts. fallen on the original. being lifted
and redrawn. |
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What is more, contrary
to popular belief. the women are not “running towards the gas
chambers”, but are waiting to enter them. The two on the left are
taking a few steps and the one on the right is walking normally. The
location of the scene makes it possible to state that the western
part of Krematorium V, containing the gas chambers, is BEHIND them,
not in front.
This “enhanced” photograph has
caused considerable emotional havoc, the results of which can be
judged from three extracts from “Excursion:
Auschwitz-Birkenau” by Andrzej BRYCHT (NRF Gallimard, Paris
1980, pages 37, 54 and 79). They show the extraordinary intellectual
confusion of an intelligent man, certainly far more lucid than most
visitors to the camp. First of all, he evokes the history of the
photograph: |
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“One day they (the Germans] undressed three hundred
girls come from France or I don’t know where exactly, they gave
them a piece of soap each and one towel for ten girls and chased
them between pyres soaked with petrol as high as houses, telling
them that that was the way to the showers. But this wooden ravine
had no exit and when the naked girls got to the end of the defile,
well-hidden Germans caught them with flame-throwers and everything
was burnt.” |
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Then, seeing the
famous photo (17a) on the wall, he described it: |
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“On the walls of other rooms there were huge
enlargements: they had thus immortalized these three hundred girls
burnt alive at the very moment when the fire was about to devour
them. Tall, white girls, three or four in the front rank,
gracious, their hair clearly standing out against the grey streaks
of the flame-throwers.” |
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Photo 17 |
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| Photo 17a |
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Photo 18 |
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Photo 18a
Attempt to reconstitute the route taken by the
Sonderkommando who took photos 17 and 18 outside Krematorium V,
after having taken the first two inside the building.
· O / West
·
route circulaire / Ringstraße
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Birkenwald / Birch Wood |
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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and operation
of the gas chambers
Jean-Claude Pressac
© 1989, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
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Page 423 |
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