The Auschwitz Album

by Peter Hellman, Lili Meier

Because of its content as well as its history, the publication of this book is an extraordinary in April 1944 a young woman named Lili Jacob (now Lili Jacob Meier) was deported with her family from Bilke, a small town in the Carpathian Mountains, to Hungary. With the other Jews of Bilke, the Jacobs were sent by the Nazis first to a ghetto in the nearby town of Berehovo and, a short time later, to Auschwitz and its death camp, Birkenau. Everyone in Lili's family was slaughtered. One she survived, after being subjected to bestial treatment. Eventually Lili was sent to Dora, a Nazi slave camp four hundred miles to the west, and it was there that she and other inmates of the prison were liberated by the Americans. On that day, gravely ill, Lili fell asleep in a newly vacated German barracks. When she awakened, she searched for warm clothing and found, under a pajama top, a photograph album. She opened it and, on the very first page, saw the picture of Naftali Svi Weiss, the distinguished rabbi of Bilke. Turning the pages, LIli found, in the neatly positioned photographs, the images of the doomed Jews of Auschwitz--among them members of her own family. Now, years later, these photographs, most of which have never been published before, are made available to the general public in what is one of the century's most powerful and unique historical records. Harrowing, eerie, immensely poignant, these pictures of the German death factory and of the pained and bewildered faces of people "selected" for either slave labor or the gas chamber form what has been called "a holy document"

Genres: Holocaust, Nonfiction, History, Photography

167 pages, Hardcover

First published November 12, 1981

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and it is certainly true that of all the many books I have read on the Holocaust, none ever effected me quite as The Auschwitz Album did. Discovered by concentration camp survivor Lili Jacob (now Meier) in the abandoned German barracks of the Dora (Mittelbau-Dora) slave labor camp after liberation, this "scrapbook" offers a visual chronicle of the arrival of a transport of Hungarian Jews at the death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944.

Any photographs you may have seen, of Jews "disembarking" at Auschwitz, being "sorted" by SS officers, or marching off in various lines, undoubtedly comes from this album, which is unique among Holocaust documents. As Peter Hellman explains in his brief textual introduction (in which he also sketches Lili Meier's life story), it was SS policy not to photograph the Jewish victims of Auschwitz, making these 188 photographs the only ones ever taken of the millions of souls who passed through that place of horrors, most never to reemerge.

It is unclear why an exception was made for this project, what purpose the photographs were meant to serve, or who took them. Here are no scenes of overt violence, no starved or mutilated bodies, no gas chambers, no crematoria. Just the dazed and bewildered faces of people emerging from dark cattle cars; the chaos of the train platform, on which the men and women were herded into separate lines; the "selection" process, in which a flick of the finger meant either life or death; and the march, either towards slave labor, or the gas chamber.

Here are the faces of women and men - young and old, healthy or infirm, beautiful and ugly, affluent, impoverished, terrified or stoic. Here, of course, are the faces of the children, many pinched and sad, some cheerful. Caught forever in this moment in time, they all seem curiously innocent, almost tranquil. None of them know. They have no idea that they have crossed over into the land of death. They do not know that in a matter of hours, their very bodies will have vanished from the earth...

But we do. We, the modern readers and viewers, know where they are headed. We know that the parent and child, separated at "selection," will never see one another again. We know that the little old grandmother, black kerchief securely tied around her head, young children trailing her like ducklings, is leading her charges towards the gates of death. We know what is going to happen, and that gives these images a curious power - and an unbearable poignancy.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was highly disturbed by this book. I already feel sort of perverted by my interest in the Holocaust and other human tragedies.

There’s another book with these photos that I’d like to read as I was troubled by some of the text in this book. There were some interesting history and personal story snippets. There was also some conjecture, at least one glaring mistake (I think as language may be the issue here) and sometimes overly dramatic text, the latter not at all needed, as no embellishment is needed to describe this important account.

I’m really glad that these photos exist but I was frustrated that there weren’t more and that the virtually all those in the pictures were shown as anonymous and their stories are not told. The pictures didn’t satisfy me; I wanted to know their stories or at least who they were. Especially regarding the potential survivors, I fervently hoped these photos were not published in these books (vs. held at Yad Vashem which is fine with me) against their will.

I don’t know how to rate this so I’ll give it 5 stars for its importance in bearing witness. It is a remarkable document. I also plan to read the other book that contains these photos because I’m curious how the other author will present them.

[Sarah Gatewood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Checked this out from the library. This is a very powerful book. It is based on an album discovered by an Auschwitz survivor after she was transferred to Dora when she was carried to the SS baracks after the guards left. The photos depict some people from her very own town - her very own rabbi. What makes this book so powerful is because the SS documented so much of The Final Solution, but they didn't take many pictures. For some reason these pictures were taken and now this book exists. Many of the pictures in this book have appeared in various books and documentaries. In this book though we see those photos built upon with the arrival and eventual separation of these Hungarian Jewish families. We see men, women, and children just arriving to Auschwitz as well as seeing inmates that have already gone through this arrival process themselves. This is their tombstone. This book helps put focus on the astronomical numbers the Nazis killed. Every number is one of these people and so many others that have no pictures of their time. Remember these victims. Remember all the victims. That's what we can do to make sure this never happens again.

[Bruce Cline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a photo album consisting of photos of Auschwitz taken by unnamed Nazis and discovered by Lili Meir, a young survivor, amongst the belongings of camp staff after they fled. These photos are extraordinarily moving, showing German soldiers, officials, and kapos standing amongst incoming inmates, many of whom were in the process of being selected for life or death, essentially participating in an inhuman assembly line. Most of the prisoners were unaware of what was happening to them, but the perpetrators, often standing casually alongside unknowing victims, went about their brutal business of choosing who were to die immediately and who were to die through overwork, disease, brutality, or other methods of murder. Men, women, children, even infants, are shown being processed as methodically as doomed cattle. The young, the aged, and the infirm were most often shuttled straight from transport to gas chambers. These many photos—many showing great detail—underscore the humanity of these innocent victims and only partly convey the inhumanity of their oppressors. Absolutely horrific.

[Kyle H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book I read for first quarter was "The Auschwitz Album". The author of the book I read was Lili Meier. I think the authors purpose in writing this book was to show the readers in first person what happened inside the death camp Auschwitz. From the arrival of new Jews, to the mass murder of over 6 million Jews. The theme of the book is to show you that life is a hard thing to overcome and you will lose eventually what you love the most. The book was in third person. I think I learned more from this book being in third person because it showed more of everyone and what happened, instead of what happened to just one person. I think the style of the novel was clearly identified and explained. The book was a description because it was an explanation of a particular time, place, and event that made the reader feel like he was experiencing it first hand. My opinion on the book was great. I like everything the author had to say. Another reason I liked the book a lot is because the author made me feel like I was experiencing it first hand. The thing I disliked about the book is how the SS treated the Jews because they were a an "Inferior race". If I could change one thing I would change how the SS treated the Jews in the Concentration camp. It is not similar to another book I have read before.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I perused this book, based upon an album found by a concentration camp survivor and consisting of black and white photographs taken by the official camp photographer (or photographers), Hannah Arendt's phrase "the banality of evil" kept coming to my mind. In photograph after photograph, one sees lines, groups, and queues of ordinary people who suffered the great misfortune of being Hungarian Jews when that country was invaded by Nazi Germany in March of 1944. What was important to the German hierarchy and bureaucracy was that the deportation trains to Auschwitz-Birkenau ran on time and that the whole operation of extermination be carried out in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible. The humdrum matter-of factness of these pictures is profoundly sad and disturbing. The viewer will not see piles of corpses, just images of everyday people—men, women, and children—anxious and uncertain but not freaked out or panic stricken because probably still under the illusion of internment and resettlement, most of whom will be dead in a matter of hours.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very interesting book. There was a lady named Lili and her family was sent to a concentration camp, when she was a teenager. When the camp was liberated in 1944 she took a photo album of pictures from a night stand at camp. The pictures were taken at various times at camp, and shows what camp, and how the jews were treated.After she made it home she told people about the pics and made copies for survivors,and museums but kept originals in a dresser for many many yrs. They soon were discoverd by Klarsfeld and convienced Lili to donate her album Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

[Claire S]

The review by Abigail A. of this provides essential info for understanding the unique contribution of this volume.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hellish