From "Euthanasia" to Sobibor: An SS Officer's Photo Collection

by Martin Cüppers (Editor), Jetje Manheim (Contributor), Karin Graf (Contributor)

The mass murder of the European Jews by Nazi Germany went hand in hand with the destruction of evidence attesting to this genocide. As Holocaust survivor Jules Schelvis puts it, "very few documents relating to Sobibor and the other death camps" remain. With its rich photographic imagery, the collection featured in From "Euthanasia" to Sobibor: An SS Officer's Photo Collection sheds new light on the Holocaust and other key aspects of Nazi extermination policy. The materials were compiled by Johann Niemann, an SS officer whose earlier participation in the Nazi "euthanasia" murders made him second-in-command at Sobibor and the first to get killed in the prisoner uprising of October 13, 1943. These documents allow crucial insights into the making of mass murderers, the evolution of the "final solution," and its consequences for the victims.

As prevalent as the perpetrator perspective is in Niemann's collection, From "Euthanasia" to Sobibor offers a welcome corrective by complementing his images and documents with testimonies of Sobibor survivors, many of which also available in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) archives.

With its compilation of unique primary sources and skillful explication, From "Euthanasia" to Sobibor addresses under-researched aspects of Nazi mass violence beyond the Holocaust and offers a rich resource for researching and teaching.

Published in Association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Genres: World War II

385 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2022

Reviews

[Micebyliz]

This is a substantial book published by Indiana University Press. It's a remarkable study of two albums donated by the grandson of the Commandant and shows the course of his life during the years before he was murdered at Sobibor. I learned more than i knew previously about Sobibor, Belzec and Treblinka (the Reinhard camps). It's a book that leaves you feeling the weight of it all on your shoulders even if you have read a great deal about the Holocaust, which I have. There is always more to learn. Voices of the very few survivors have mostly left us, so we are bereft of their presence and patience in the telling of their stories. But this book does contain some and we are lucky to have them.