Introducing Faces of Auschwitz

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/04/09/introducing-faces-of-auschwitz.html

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Thank you.

My grandfather was in this war. He was on the wrong side.

I highly appreciate that you, and others, keep the memory alive. Thus, those who had no voice will be heard. Those who were to be destroyed, eradicated, deleted - they will not be forgotten.

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Especially since so many people – from the alt-right to the Polish government to some UK Labour Party leaders – are working hard to eradicate it.

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Somehow, colorizing the photos takes the people from being victims of Auschwitz to being, well, just plain people. People who happened to be swept into the atrocity of Auschwitz.

I’m not saying this well. They are no longer simply victims of a concentration camp. Colorizing the photos takes them from being an exhibit of victims to, instead, being people first, who had the beyond-horrifying experience of being held prisoner at Auschwitz.

A black-and-white picture is history. A color picture is an aunt, an uncle, a father, a sister. The horror is all the more real for it.

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I can’t think of a more heart-rending job. I literally could not do it, thank you!

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Exactly. Especially for younger folk, colorization makes the victims appear more contemporaneous and – therefore – more readily identified with.

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Thanks for participating in this project and helping to hold the line against those who would forget history in their eagerness to repeat it.

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A couple of things:

  1. Bear in mind the vast majority of people sent to Auschwitz never even got to the registration part and were killed within hours of getting of the train.

  2. Virtually everyone under the age of 12 was automatically selected to die

  3. This is an entirely important and good thing being done here.

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Fuck Nazi’s

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Gods no man, they might procreate!
Nazis must never, ever fuck; let Homo Horribilis die out naturally.

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Edit: Fuck (the bad kind) Nazi’s

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image

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I appreciate any work done to humanize victims of the Holocaust.

I have one small quibble. Please do not use the word “gypsy.” Especially do not use it without capitalizing it. Roma is the preferred term for that ethnic group.

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I have heard there were some very fine people on both sides.

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Well, Hitler did kill Hitler.

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Great project! I’m looking forward to it!

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Thank you for taking on terribly difficult emotional work. Constant reminders that humans are essentially pack predators are necessary to keep the worst and the weak in line. Bashir Assad and Adolf Hitler are two of many examples of dictators who tore their own and others’ countries apart to maintain authority and who killed millions of their own to feed their greed for money and power. America must look to these as a template for what Trump and the alt-right may attempt if not restrained by journalism and the electorate.

My heart goes out to the remaining relatives of these victims.

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I feel that I’m in the minority opinion on this, but I’ve never found colorizing images like this ever increased the impact for me. Part of what I’ve always found so chilling about the images is the banal businesslike process of the photos. If it works for others though, work away.

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If you get a chance, go to Auschwitz. It’s a hell of an experience.

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I just looked at other examples of her work, and I am really impressed. I hope TED takes notice and invites her to speak.