There is an odd detail about the Nazi camps that I have been thinking about lately. It does not help either side of the Holocaust fight - not that I think there is much of a debate. Here it is: Germans carried cameras and they photographed much of their daily activities. We have photos of Germans shooting Poles, Russians, and so forth in the field etc. But it appears that few if any pictures were taken at the camps in question. I mean sure I see the standard ones I have since since the 50s. Maybe a few new ones that may have appeared over the years. But you'd think there would be new stashes of them being discovered. I realize after the war most such stashes would have been burned since it was evidence and no guard wanted to be connected to those camps. But one would think that the guards would have taken lots of pictures at the killing sites or if no systematic killing was going on, then pictures of the sites showing no sign of killing. But there just seems to be a great dearth of any materials from these sites. I mean look at the pictures turning up of the Eastern Front. All I can come up with is that Himmler ordered his SS not to use private cameras in the camps. This would make sense, since in Otto Skorzeny's book about his war years I recall he made mention where Himmler chewed his ass out for documenting something that Himmler thought should not be documented. I recall marking this passage (though at the moment my book is loaned out) because I felt it resolved the issue about whether Himmler would have made documents about the Death Camps killing Jews. Skorzeny was a dyed in the wool Nazi until the end of his life. he never renounced Hitler or the Nazi party. So it appears that he made a slip up in his book when he mentioned this detail about Himmler and documentation. As I recall Himmler said something like, "we don't document those sorts of things!" But at the moment I can't recall just what it was that set him off. I'll have to get my book back to resolve that. There was another interesting thing SKorzeny let slip in his book, it was where Hitler stated that committing suicide was totally un-German. Think about that one....
The Einsatzkommando troops at least were ordered NEVER to take pictures of those shootings/killings. If anyone was caught with such pictures he was taken to military court. Probably sentenced to penalty division after that.
I believe one reason for the 'gag' order and harsh penalties for men taking photographs was a fear of the Nazi High Command. Remember Himmler's visit in 1942 to an execution when he got brain matter on him and nearly threw up...i hardly think they would want cameras handy to capture that!!!
Photographs have always been impersonal to me. Even reading about holocaust atrocities plays more on my mind since I tend to paint "my own" picture of what things would seem to be like. Albeit, the one thing that I've "seen" concerning the holocaust that tends to stick in my head is that diorama of Auschwitz located in the Imperial War Museum, London. They have bunches of shoes, glasses, etc.. But, that diarama, there's just something about it...
