2020, "Auschwitz 1944: Victims and Perpetrators in Two Photo Albums" - Dr. Jonathan Wiesen

Dr. Wiesen will explore two Nazi-era photo albums that are some of the only photographs we have from the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau and its perpetrators.
The first, The Lilly Jacobs Album (also known as The Auschwitz Album), was discovered by a survivor recovering from typhus. It depicts the arrival of Hungarian Jews to the death camp. The second, known as The Höcker Album, reveals pictures of Auschwitz camp personnel relaxing and enjoying themselves at the Solahütte, a little known SS resort some 30 km south of Auschwitz on the Sola River.
When these two albums are juxtaposed, we get a troubling glimpse into the complexities of the human experience during a moment when the war was winding down, yet the Germans were murdering Jews as fast as they could.
Professor Wiesen will lead a discussion about these haunting images and what they tell us about the victims and perpetrators in the Holocaust.