Portraits of a photographer who, with tears in his eyes, shot prisoners of the death camp

"The subject of photography should behave naturally. The face should not be tense, without an artificial smile." These are the words of Wilhelm Brasse, a professional Polish photographer who had to do his job in the Auschwitz concentration camp. It’s hard to get one from a person who lives in fear every second.

This is a famous photo of a Polish teenager girl Ceslava Kwoka. Wilhelm Brasse says that before the shoot, the warden hit her in the face several times with her fist.

Camp photos were taken according to special rules. You need to watch them from right to left. The first photo - the face is turned three quarters and in a headdress. The following photo - without a headgear full face. The latter - without a headgear in profile.

Wilhelm Brasse ended up in a concentration camp as a prisoner because he refused to sign a paper supporting Hitler’s policies. He was lucky because he was a professional photographer, and he was immediately assigned to a special department.

A documentary called "Portraitist" was shot about William Brasse.

In his interview, the photographer mentioned that he was ashamed of the prisoners, whom he could not help.

According to his calculations, he took about 50 thousand pictures. In the early years of the camps, the Germans carried out pedantic recording of all prisoners.

Once a night, William Brass had to photograph more than a thousand newly arrived prisoners.

He, as a good specialist, had to photograph German chiefs, officers, and officers of the SS.

He was given cigarettes, bread and sausage for professional work, which was not cheap at large. They were fed by the whole team of photographers.

Closer to the defeat of the Reich, Brasse filmed mostly inhumane experiments on prisoners of the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele.

The memories of filming in gas chambers haunted him all his life.

After his release from the concentration camp, Brasse was no longer able to engage in photography. He says that looking at the lens he sees tortured Jewish women in front of him.

Watch the video: Viewer Discretion Is Advised: Some of the MOST Emotional Photos I have ever taken, from Auschwitz (May 2024).