Auschwitz III, a photo from Malopolskie, East

Photographer's Note

At Birkenau, the trains carrying prisoners arrived directly at the concentration camp. They passed through the heavily guarded entrance gates and pulled up in front of the Nazi officers. Immediately the prisoners were separated into two groups. The strong and healthy were chosen to be forced labourers but the others (around 70% of the total) were selected for extermination. Those who were to die were herded straight to the gas chambers located at the far end of the tracks.

It is estimated that the total number of people to die at Auschwitz was 1.1 million, with around 90% of them Jewish.

This is the third in my Auschwitz series. The other two postings can be found at:
Auschwitz I and
Auschwitz II

alexlie, yanar, prd, christina, yzzabelle has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

alexlie (5359) 2005-01-13 15:17

Good, sad series Jonathan... the black and white increase emotion.

scalerman (26900) 2005-01-13 15:37

Jonathan, a somber, sobering shot - the photo is flawless technically, and your notes flesh in the theme.

vapours (8264) 2005-01-13 15:40

Another good shot, much like your others its another great shot in black and white.

groovemasterj (72) 2005-01-13 15:44

Strong and moving photograph, strong and moving note. Thank you for both.

yanar (295) 2005-01-13 16:08

This is a sad story and very good photograph. The perspective and POV is very good.

edji (1368) 2005-01-13 17:10

Nice B&W picture with lots of contrast as I like it. Good framing.

prd (4) 2005-01-14 18:36

Difficult to click on a smiley face as a rating for this photograph - however, this picture is remarkable in its composition and form.

christina (2040) 2005-01-15 6:50

Again a great choice for black and white. I think the image is very strong adn your note excellent . Thansk for sharing these important images.

colinbrenchley (6431) 2005-01-25 19:02

Today as I write it is 60 years since trains came down the tracks and the image of the place is frightenly very real. B&W is the only medium for this place.

Teten (582) 2005-10-03 9:46