"Wilhelm Brass, photographer, witness of the tragic events." "First you look at the person." "There is no person with entirely regular face features." "Photographed object should behave naturally." "Face should not be tensed, without artificial smile." "PORTRAITIST" "The quality of picture depends on the lighting and setting." "That is how you take good photo portraits." "My grandfather worked for Archduke of Austria-Este as an ornamental gardener." "He considered himself an Austrian." "Very often I listened how my father and grandfather talked to each other in German." "However in our family home, we only spoke Polish... because my mom did not speak German at all." "She was Polish in every meaning of the word." "Above all, she had imbued me with the meaning of hard work and honesty from when I was little." "And devotion to God." "My aunt had big and well prospering photography studio." "I was accepted as an apprentice... and had a good teacher." "He comprehensively thought me all the photography skills... like taking portrait pictures... photo lab work... and photo retouch." "I prospered during that time." "I went dancing and just had fun as every young man did." "The girls I went out with wore medallions... like there used to be medallions with a saint's picture in... they were the kind you could open." "And inside they had picture of Hitler." "For the picture, the prisoner had to be properly shaven... and their uniform had to be set right." "And only then we took pictures." "When they were brought, they waited in a queue... then they came in, sat on a chair and three different photos were taken." "The first one was in a hat and three-quarters view." "The second one was "Take off the hat";" ""Mütze ab und gerade aus shaun"." "That was the command." "For the third picture, the prisoner was turned 90 degrees with the chair and the profile picture was taken." "And than there was a command "Weg!"." "Which means "Leave"." "The prisoner left and the chair was put back to its original position, and then the next prisoner walked in." "The person which attended the chair slides in the next number." "That is how it happened." "One after another." "The process was efficient and quick." "I estimate that during my work in the camp," "I took somewhere between 40,000 to 50,000 of these "police" pictures." "The lights were always set beforehand, so there were no problems with that." "Same with the camera." "The distance between the camera and the person was always the same." "It was never closer or further away." "The camera stand was fixed to flaps in the floor, so there never was a difference in the distance." "That was the way it happened." "The attention was paid for the inmate not to smile or make painful, martyr faces." "Czesława Kwoka" "I particularly remember the picture of this girl prisoner... because she simply looked so young... that girl." "So disarmingly... as a girl... as a prisoner wearing this headscarf." "She still looked well, she wasn't emaciated." "Sometimes particular numbers were called, but in German, and this girl simply didn't know what was going on." "And then that SS-woman..." "I have seen it in few instances... hit them with quirt or hit them in the face." "Or she beat them in the face..." "There was one prisoner known in the whole camp, notorious for his brutality and murderous tendencies." "He was not kapo as such, but he was... he was something called... so called Kalfaktor in block 11... i.e. penal work division... prisoner Waclaw Rudzki." "We called him Wacek Russian... because he especially hated Russians..." "the prisoners of war." "He murdered Russian prisoners he was in charge of in a horrible way." "He brought prisoners from penal work division for the pictures to be taken." "There were a number of times when he came with the prisoners... he beat them for trivial reasons... when they waited in a queue outside photo studio." "For example, because they did not stand in straight rows... or they moved." "He used any excuse to beat them." "So on few occasions I reprimanded him that he shouldn't do that there because... for the picture everyone should have their faces look proper... more or less... not covered in blood and without bruises." "It happened very often to the Jews." "So if one of them came beaten..." "SS-man reprimanded saying that a picture cannot be taken." "If he was with us." "And when he wasn't..." "I personally reprimanded explaining that I cannot take the picture at that moment... and he would need to come later." "Wacek Rudzki brought a group of prisoners from penal work division for the picture." "There were Jews among them." "And to my surprise and horror, I recognized there..." "I found one of them..." "One of them was Waksberger." "He was a restaurant owner located in Zywiec, opposite the rail station." "And the second one was a shop owner..." "Also in Zablocie." "His name was Enoch." "They recognized me, those Jews." "And I gave them some food, cigarettes... and everything I could hand them over." "I noticed that one of the Jews, Waksberger... he was an older gentleman... he had his ear lobe torn." "Probably by Wacek." "Their situation was..." "I knew that they would be murdered anyway." "I asked this Wacek Russian..." "I knew he was the executioner and torturer, to possibly... so they could possibly be killed..." "for them not to suffer too much." "So he wouldn't beat them... or choke them somehow, for example." "To kill them with one hit of a club, for example." "And not to kick somebody... and gradually kill them or choke them in sophisticated way." "Because I've seen situations... where people were choked, knocked down to the ground... face up... the shovel shaft placed on their throat... and by standing on the shovel and swinging to the sides, the person was choked to death." "I have seen it myself few times, that Jews were killed that way." "It has been following me, my whole life." "These are situations unheard of." "It is inconceivable for an ordinary man to imagine... that you could ask for somebody's light death." "And it has been following me, and it comes back all the time in my memories." "Our boss, Walter, came... and announced that we will have to work the whole night, that there will be a transport of prisoners... that we will have to take pictures of in one night." "There were 1100 prisoners in that transport." "The door was open to the corridor... and I could see that the prisoners who came there had to give away all valuable belongings and clothing." "Everything was taken away from them in that corridor." "And I went out to the corridor at one point... and was approached by an older, maybe 50-year-old man." "He said to me in broken Polish... he had..." "I could see gold coins and diamonds thrown into his hat." "And he told me..." ""Here, take it." "It will last you till the end of your life"." "The content of this hat." "And because..." "I never went for such things... because I knew it's risky business and usually the ending was grim." "I thanked him and said, "I won't take it..."" ""I don't need it, thank you"." "And walked away." "There was one instance when a colleague, who worked searching through the briefcases left by Jews... brought an entire bundle of dollars." "They all turned out to be $100 bills." ""It's $10,000." "The whole pack", he said." ""I found them." "What should I do with it?"" "There is an open oven over there", I told him." ""It's burning inside." "Put it in"." "And he threw it in." "A whole bundle of dollars." "And indeed, by the next morning, the whole transport was photographed and allocated." "Our studio was not prepared to take group photos as such." "Everything was set up to take individual photos." "However, if it comes to particular cases..." "Here it can be seen that on one side, the light is fairly bright... but the other half of his face is in a shade." "Only her face, let's say, is illuminated better here." "However his face is not particularly well lit up... because there was no second light strong enough to brighten the shade here." "The boss warned me..." "by boss I mean Walter... he informed me that I will be taking a wedding photo." "And that a kapo... one of the kapos will be having the wedding organized here." "He called me and I realized... that it will be my colleague's wedding." "Frimel's." "During the Spanish Civil War, he fought on the side of the "Red"." "He told me he had a girlfriend there..." "Spanish girlfriend, some professor's daughter." "He had a baby with her, he knew about it." "Both of them, as you can see in the photo, were dressed in civilian clothing." "He was given civilian clothing for the wedding." "I took this photo... a family type photo." "When I was taking the picture of the orchestra... a small, more like chamber orchestra played in baths opposite the studio... and they played "Long Live Love"." "They played it beautifully, but someone has arranged a joke..." "When the poor guys started to play for their colleague... they turned the water on in the shower." "After the wedding, Frimels... they went to the Block 24," "where the brothel was closed for this occasion... to enable him to spend the wedding night with his wife." "She left the next day... and he stayed in the camp as a prisoner." "Very tragically, shortly after his life ended in the camp... because he tried to escape and was caught... and hanged." "Oberscharführer Walter came to me and said" "I have to take especially good photo... because it will be a photo of the Head of the Political Department Grabner." "The head of Political Office, the head of camp Gestapo..." "It was unheard of!" "He was the master of life and death." "He personally decided about death by firing squad... or killing somebody." "He brought widespread fear on everyone." "Everyone knew that, when Grabner was going to Block 11... there would be executions." "I asked Untersturmführer Grabner to sit comfortably... to relax... and I set the lighting appropriately," "because in this case the lighting should be set entirely different." "In order to, as you can see in the photo... to sharpen the facial features... there was an additional light standing on the side here." "It was a reflector, placed close to the face." "And the two main lights here... had special anti-shade filters applied." "He addressed me in a really polite and calm way... and said he would like a picture he would look good on." "And that he wants to send it to his family." "I asked him not to sit bolt upright." "In German it was "anspannen"." "I addressed him..." ""Could you please look ahead?"" "And here he has, how would you say, a human look." "Since that photo, my boss automatically forwarded this kind of work to me." "It was my job and my responsibility." "I was already an experienced professional... and I knew I would take these kind of pictures really well." "I took the pictures using monocle." "They are ordinary, converging lenses, which make the photo have softer edges." "And using this lens..." "I framed this lens after Auschwitz..." "I took portrait photos of some SS officers." "For the last camp's commander..." "Obersturmbannführer Bayer..." "I took both postcard picture and an ID-type picture." "Also I took a series of pictures for non-commissioned officers, like infamous Palitzsch, like Plagge..." "I was a good portrait photographer." "I was able to fit our clients' demands... and thanks to that I was able to support the whole team with food." "What I did, I hinted... when a SS-man wanted a picture other than the official one, and asked if it is possible... and when I felt I could, I said..." ""Yes, indeed it is possible, but..."" "So than he asked what exactly was needed to be brought, so I would say cigarettes, piece of sausage..." "Walter, who, I can honestly say... even liked and appreciated me... in private conversations sometimes had repeated:" ""Brasse, ich zeue schwarz fur dich"." ""Brasse, I see a dark future for you"." "I took pictures... of a beautiful girl." "She served in the SS." "Graceful blonde." "She came to be photographed." "She had the permission for portrait photo to be taken." "She said that she must have a picture... so that her bust would be visible." "She even brought a piece of tulle with her... this is a thin, transparent material... so she would cover her bust with it." "But suddenly, she took off her blouse and bra, and said that she wanted a picture so the bust would be visible... almost visible." "I was excited and slightly nervous." "I took a few pictures, four or even five different shots." "It has been ingrained in my memory because I found out later... that this woman poisoned herself." "After collecting the photos, she poisoned herself." "I found out later... that she did it because of what she saw in the camp." "She worked next to the camp as a SS telephonist." "Through the wires, they could see what was happening in the camp... and not just that, because there was a crematorium nearby... so every day they could see piles of dead bodies on those carts which were brought to the crematorium." "I suspect the girl was shocked by what she saw and ended her life." "In front of our building, the place I worked in... there was a patch of lawn." "And there on that lawn, our colleague... he somehow got pansy seeds or cuttings from gardeners... he planted them there, so a few flowers grew there." "The flowers were beautiful, so at least you could look at them... with pleasure." "I picked few of them and put them in a jar." "I decided to photograph them, I made a couple of photos... and on the second day our boss, Walter, noticed them." "One day he came and said..." ""Brasse, the flowers look pretty"." ""Make postcards... about 100 copies"." "These flowers were so popular..." "surprisingly... that he came back and told me to make 1000 copies." "They turned out to be such a popular commodity... evidently they sold them in SS canteen." "And they, these soldiers..." "these SS men... posted them back to their homes as notelets." "And we copied them in thousands... because he had so many orders for these flowers." "Doctor Entress... at the beginning started to send samples for pictures... unique samples according to him... and unique tattoos." "He reviewed the newcomers casually... but he closely reviewed German citizens coming to the camp." "Once they were stripped naked, he examined them... and in few cases..." "there were a number of cases... he sent them for the picture to be taken." "There was one case of German prisoner who had, for example... one of more interesting examples... on his penis he had a scale in centimeters tattooed... and on the side, he had a pointing hand with an inscription in German..." ""Nur fur damen";" ""Just for the ladies"." "His name was Zielinski." "By profession - a ship stoker." "He was very well built." "Absolutely in best strength and health." "The tattoo was actually perfectly done." "It presented a paradise." "Adam and Eve, only it was really... artistically done..." "in two colors, red and blue." "Beautiful composition." "It showed a paradise tree with apples... and how Eve is handing Adam the apple." "And I was ordered to take a picture of it." "Which, of course, I did." "A colleague who worked in crematorium as a... on doctor's orders he cut out different samples from corpses." "He told me that... he carved out a piece of skin with a tattoo from a dead prisoner." "It turned out that, in fact, it was Zielinski." "He cut out a piece of skin and he had to dissect it." "I took gynecological photos for doctor Wirtz... who conducted medical experiments in Block 10." "There was a whole block allocated for such experiments." "There were only women prisoners, mostly Jewish." "A gynecological chair was even brought, to use in the studio and on the set." "And he told me, but not the SS doctor... but a prisoner who worked for him... before the war, he was supposedly a professor at the University... in Munich, I think." "His name was Dr. Solomon." "And he conducted all the treatments and prepared for the experiments." "So in my presence, he administered anesthetic injection." "Within a few seconds, the prisoner fell asleep." "And on the gynecological chair... her genitalia were opened." "I then set the lighting... strong light on genitalia." "And the uterus was pulled out with forceps." "I took pictures... black and white, and in color." "Some fluids and caustic injections were applied on the uterus... to possibly induce cervix cancer." "In few cases, doctor Solomon was content because the uterus... on one side you could see white infiltration... and the other side was red." "And he explained that this was the beginning of a disease." "And he particularly exposed these changes, so they could be seen properly." "He had swarthy skin, above average height..." "Doctor Mengele - a beast in human form." "As a SS-man, as an officer... he was very polite and courteous towards me and the others who worked with him." "I even took his photo for a camp pass." "He spoke with me like with a professional." "So he referred to me:" ""Can you do that, sir?"" ""Do you understand what I mean, sir?"" ""Can you make these kind of things, sir?"" "As his work progressed... he developed interest in groups like midgets, mentally impaired people... and I took these kinds of photos." "He examined the victims, he got involved with them for a while... and he had constant contact with them." "And then, when he examined, exploited, described, measured, weighed them... he sent... ordered that the number so and so... was to be sent to the gas chamber." "From time to time he sent groups." "Usually there were groups between 12 and 14 Jewish women." "Dr. Mengele sent a young Jewish woman, about 30 years old..." "And I found out she came from Budapest because I asked her..." "She was a medical doctor." "I don't know how, but one of fellow prisoners knew her..." "He simply came and asked if something could be done to take the picture again, so she could come again." "We than destroyed the negatives from that day... and reported the material was faulty." "Our boss made a request that she needed to come again to be photographed... because photos did not come out." "Unfortunately, it turned out that... the woman was no longer alive." "They have already sent her to the gas chamber." "I recognize these, because it's my work." "These were made on doctor Mengele's orders." "These are girls." "However, there were also several pictures of boys." "We did not have enough lighting... to take group photos." "So what I did, I put intense lighting from the sides." "There was a kind of small podium." "And they stood on this podium." "I am looking at these, and it is a shocking return to my past." "The past I'm trying to forget about." "Those were girls, sometimes 14 years old... 13 years old..." "and they were very embarrassed." "Their eyes, you could see..." "they did not say anything... but you could see they were scared." "They looked at me, and I could see they were scared." "So I tried, through the nurses... to make them feel comfortable... that nothing would happen to them here... nobody would hit them here or intimidate them." "I tried not to even approach these children... or touch them." "I avoided that." "I just asked the nurses or the typist... so they placed the children that way or another." "Entirely vulnerable beings... that were made to take part in compulsory photography and unnatural behavior." "Nobody normally behaves that way... to stand naked next to the other to be photographed." "Sometimes when my colleague, Jureczek, handed me the cartridge... he was responsible for loading the film..." "I asked him to give them some bread." "And these children tore it in front of us and ate it on the spot." "They never said that their parents were sent to the gas chamber... only that their parents left..." "drove away in a car." "Every human wants to have children." "It is a natural feeling..." "parental instinct." "Especially maternal instinct towards a child." "And in this situation..." "when I saw how these children behaved... how dreadful their fate was..." "I felt sorry for these kids immensely." "Because I knew that after some time, these children would die... as soon as they were exploited as objects." "I cursed and cursed at God... and I cursed my mother for giving birth to me." "We found out from SS men that Russians were advancing, and that the camp will be evacuated for sure." "On January 20th, the boss stormed in and simply said..." ""Kommte Ivan";" ""Ivan is coming", he said." ""Burn all the photos"." "He ordered us to remove all the negatives and copies from the cabinets... and put them in the oven." "The fire was already on, so we threw them in, but... the fire was smothered straight away, especially since the negatives... the films were made from non-combustive material, so they burn very hard." "As soon as he left, we immediately stopped... and we poured water over what could be saved." "And we took the copies and negatives out of the oven." "We laid down everything we could to save as much as possible." "And we tried to secure them somehow... knowing some day, they could be used as evidence... as an evidence of the past and evidence of the crime... that was committed in the camp." "Because there were files, photographs... there were files of the deceased, files of people who were shot..." ""Hefting number 3444 melding zo shtellen"." "I have dreamed that my number was called and they need me... they are looking for me, because there is a group to be shot by firing squadron." "And I'm dreaming, I am hiding somewhere..." "I am trying to hide, and I feel they are looking for me... and they are chasing me." "And I wake up all sweaty... feverish and scared... but fortunately, I wake up and it is just a dream." "I went through dreadful situations, that is the truth... but I have never thought I should've signed that pledge... and get some peace." "I had an opportunity to get out, I was offered to do so... but it was not an honorable solution, because I felt like a true Pole." "My father served in the Polish Army... and participated in the campaign against the Bolsheviks in 1920." "In 1940, there was a call... that all who can and feel that they have a duty... they should go to France via Hungary and join the Polish Army." "So we walked across the whole Bieszczady... through Bukovsko, Komancze..." "We got as close as about 8 km from Hungarian border." "We walked into the village outskirts... and we were surrounded by locals." "We were taken to prison in Tarnow." "There, the mass transport was formed... and a month later, on August 31st, 1940... through Krakow, we were taken to Auschwitz." "Just before the departure... two of us were called... prisoners." "We didn't know why." "One was called Adler." "And I was the second one." "There was a military man sitting." "I do not know, if he was an officer or a non-commissioned officer." "However, he was smartly dressed." "And he simply said that, if I agree... if I sign that I will join the German army..." "I would have been released." "I refused, and the other guy refused too." "He did not sign." "He later died, after less than a month in Auschwitz." "And I survived, fortunately." "In Auschwitz, I got the number 3444." "It appears that it was a lucky number." "After I was released, my intention was to return to photography." "I didn't have anything, that was true... but I was able to arrange cameras and other tools necessary." "But the images came back... especially the images of these young girls... used for experiments by doctor Mengele." "And this has returned..." "On one hand, I was taking a picture of a woman or a girl... and at the same time, I saw these naked girls... naked Jewish women who I photographed in the camp." "I started to feel abhorrence for taking pictures." "It must have affected my mind that..." "I could not and still can't forget that." "And I will die with it." "Wilhelm Brasse, number 3444." "Prisoner in Auschwitz since 31.08.1940." "Photographic Identification Unit of Political Office Directorate [Gestapo]" "He was ordered to keep secret photographic documentation." "On the eve of the evacuation of the camp, risking his life, he saved the majority of photos known today which are evidence of Nazi crimes in Auschwitz."