Memoria [EN] No. 10 / July 2018 | Page 31

Witold Pilecki

Initially, the Nazis planned to photograph each of approximately 400,000 prisoners registered at Auschwitz-Birkenau, half of whom were Jewish. The motivation was to create a visual aid to identify runaway prisoners or those whose identity had to be confirmed during their stay in the camp. However, the system proved to be ineffective. The cruel and inhuman conditions of the camp life made prisoners’ emaciated physique and facial features unrecognizable shortly after they arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Prisoners were photographed soon after their arrival in Auschwitz-Birkenau by fellow inmates who were forced to work in the camp photo laboratory in Block 26. Prisoners' faces and heads were shaven and their uniforms embroidered with camp numbers, triangles corresponding to different prisoner categories, and letters identifying prisoners’ countries of origin. While most of the photographed prisoners wore camp uniforms, a few of the registration photographs feature prisoners wearing civilian clothes.

the initial selection and incorporation into the Auschwitz-Birkenau prisoner population had their photos taken. Those condemned to extermination at the onset were not photographed.