Dateline Report

Last night I viewed an eleven minute segment on television station SBS under their current affairs program called Dateline. I was amazed at watching the segment of a newly discovered, or made public at least, photo album of "happy snaps" taken in 1944 showing the German authorities of infamous holocaust concentration camp Aushwitz-Birkenau, having fun.

It is a compelling album, and story. If you have broadband, it is well worth watching. If you wish to have a look, click on the link below and if the window opens click on Happy Nazi's story on the right hand side and then you will be able to see the story. It contains no horror images of death at all, strangely, it shows much happier images. What makes these pictures so rare, is that there are very few images of this period at all and it is astonishing to see this historical document.

http://video.sbs.com.au/player/news/index.php?mmid=11755&chid=13

The picture is taken of Nazi officers on a wooden bridge in Solahutte near the camp. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)

I have been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington at the Smithsonian Institute, and was humbled by the impact of that experience upon me. As though I can still feel and still smell aspects of it that make the experience real. Even still.