The Auschwitz Photographer: The Forgotten Story of the WWII Prisoner Who Documented Thousands of Lost Souls Kindle Edition by Luca Crippa and Maurizio Onnis

The Auschwitz Photographer: The Forgotten Story of the WWII Prisoner Who Documented Thousands of Lost Souls Kindle Edition by Luca Crippa and Maurizio Onnis - 2021 -378 Pages - translated by Jennifer Higgins from Italian 

There were two important factors that helped people survive in Auschwitz.  One was being part of  a network of connected fellow inmates willing to make sacrifices and take risks for each other.  Another was having a skill that was useful to the Nazis.  If you were a locksmith, a carpenter, a diamond cutter, a doctor, a skilled dressmaker,an accountant or as seen in today’s book, a highly skilled photographer  you had a much better chance of survival than an unskilled laborer.  Working inside was a huge advantage.  Plus The Nazis wanted inmates they came in close  contact with clean, free of lice. You also had much better food.  As in all stories of camp life, the search for food was never ending.  The camp guards were corrupt, stealing from camp supplies.

In 1939 Walter Brasse, a professional photographer is deported from Poland to Auschwitz brcause he refuses to swear allegiance to Hitler.  His mother was Polish, his father German, under German race laws he was an Aryan.  

The Nazis wanted three photographs of every new inmate.   Walter Brasse was assigned to take identity pictures of arriving inmates.  Soon camp employees are asking him to take pictures of them to send home.  He is very skilled at making people look good.  Over five years he will photograph over 50,000 inmates.  The notorious Doctor Mengele’s victims, including sets of dwarfs, were among his subjects.  He brings in more inmates to help him, saving their lives.

The Auschwitz Photographer is a stark reminder of the horrors of the camp.  Anyone interested in Auschwitz will be captivated by the story of Walter Brasse.

The close of the narrative was very gratifying to me.  We learn of the punishments given to the Germans who supervised Brasse’s work, as well as those who suffered no consequences.  

Melvin Ulm