Tag: Yad Vashem

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The Auschwitz Portraitist

The Nazis were known to keep meticulous records on just about everything. Amazingly, this was also true about their desire to establish a photographic record of their crimes. We are familiar with Hitler’s favorite filmmaker and director, Leni Riefenstahl (1902−2003). She was not only a filmmaker but also a photographer and yes, a Nazi. Her movies included Olympia (1936 Berlin Olympics) and the propaganda film on the 1934 Nazi rally at Nuremberg. There was Heinrich Hoffmann (1885−1957), Hitler’s personal and official Nazi photographer. Hoffmann was part of Hitler’s inner circle and played a significant role in Goebbel’s propaganda program to elevate Hitler in the eyes of German citizens. Both of these individuals are quite well known due to their historical visibility. However, there was a group of photographers who are not quite as famous as the Nazi propagandists. These were the Auschwitz photographers and they were inmates selected by the camp’s commandant, SS-Hauptsturmführer Rudolf Höss.

Identity photographs of Auschwitz prisoners. Photographs by Wilhelm Brasse (c. 1940-45). Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
Identity photographs of Auschwitz prisoners. Photographs by Wilhelm Brasse (c. 1940-45). Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

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Outpacing Hitler and the Nazis

Many of us are familiar with the story of Jesse Owens (1913-1980) winning four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin. Adolph Hitler was in the stands and watched Jesse and his teammates beat out German athletes in various track and field events. After watching African Americans step up to the victor’s stand on day one, Hitler refused to shake hands with anyone other than a German. Told it was all or nothing ⏤ he had to either shake everyone’s hand or no one ⏤ Hitler chose the latter. So, every day before the award ceremonies began, Hitler left the stadium. Watch the video clip “Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics” in 1936 here.

Luz Long, German athlete saluting Hitler (right), on the winners stand at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Jesse Owens (left) on the podium after winning the gold medal. Photo by anonymous (c. August 1936). Bundesarchiv Bild 183-G00630, Sommerolympiade, Siegerehrung Weitsprung. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Germany. Wikimedia Commons.
Luz Long, German athlete saluting Hitler (right), on the winners stand at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Jesse Owens (left) on the podium after winning the gold medal. Photo by anonymous (c. August 1936). Bundesarchiv Bild 183-G00630, Sommerolympiade, Siegerehrung Weitsprung. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Germany. Wikimedia Commons.

This is only one of many stories which took place in the latter part of the 1930s when German athletes competed against African Americans in sports such as boxing (Schmeling vs. Louis) and track and field (Owens and others). It was a time when German nationalism was on the rise and Hitler was promoting his master-race theories.

It wasn’t only African American athletes who were embarrassing Hitler and his regime. In the late 1930s, motorsports took on the Führer and won. Two Formula One (F1) race car drivers, a Jewish Frenchman and an American woman, financed, built, and raced cars to compete with the Nazis’ Mercedes-Benz team and they beat Hitler at his own game. Read More Outpacing Hitler and the Nazis