“No memory of the men, women, and children that were deemed ‘valueless’ upon their arrival remains in camp records. This album is the sole witness to their fate.”
Here are some of the heartbreaking photos below:
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
In this photo below the old Jews were being assisted in disembarking as the railroad car has no convenient steps. Words written on the side of the train said “Deutsche Reichsbahn” or German State Railway.
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
Thousands of people arrived daily at Auschwitz-Birkenau from all parts of Europe.
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
People who just arrived are carrying their property as they’re assuming they’ll be needing it. No one had any idea that most of them will be murdered. The Nazis appropriated any valuable property they have.
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
These kids are Sril (Israel) and Zelig, two of Lili Jacob’s siblings, who have just arrived. They were gassed shortly after this photo was taken.
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
Jewish men on the left are advancing toward a SS man. On the right, the selection of Jewish women is taking place. The two Jewish women in front have been selected for slave labor.
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
Jewish men who have just entered Birkenau as prisoners.
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
Jewish women on their way to the “Sauna” (shower). The men watching at the back behind electrified barbed wire are prisoners in Birkenau.
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
New prisoners of Auschwitz with shaven head, wearing prison uniforms, a registration number tattooed on their left arm, and their personal belongings confiscated from them.
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
Jewish women walking inside the women’s camp, wearing prison uniform, with a SS officer watching over them.
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
Bags and suitcases collected and sorted out in “Kanada.”
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
Clothes taken from the arriving Jews.
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
Since the undressing rooms of the gas chambers weren’t big enough to accommodate thousands of Hungarian Jews who arrived in the summer of 1944, many of them had to wait their turn around this grove closest to the crematorium. All of them exhausted and in a state of shock from all the horrors in their journey and the selection process they endured. They had no idea what fate awaited them.
This was their last relatively peaceful moment together. They were then driven into the gas chambers…
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
Jewish women and children walking towards the gas chambers. These photos are the only surviving visual evidence of their last moments — the sole witness to their fate.
Photo credit: Yad Vashem
All images via Yad Vashem