From "euthanasia" to Sobibor: an SS officer's photo collection

Abstract

"The mass murder of the European Jews by Nazi Germany went hand in hand with the destruction of evidence attesting to this genocide. As Holocaust survivor Jules Schelvis puts it, "[v]ery few documents relating to Sobibor and the other death camps" remain. With its rich photographic imagery, the collection featured in From "Euthanasia" to Sobibor: An SS Officer's Photo Collection sheds new light on the Holocaust and other key aspects of Nazi extermination policy. The materials were compiled by Johann Niemann, an SS officer whose earlier participation in the Nazi "euthanasia" murders made him second-in-command at Sobibor and the first to get killed in the prisoner uprising of October 13, 1943. These documents allow crucial insights into the making of mass murderers, the evolution of the "final solution," and its consequences for the victims. As prevalent as the perpetrator perspective is in Niemann's collection, From "Euthanasia" to Sobibor offers a welcome corrective by complementing his images and documents with testimonies of Sobibor survivors, many of which also available in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) archives. With its compilation of unique primary sources and skillful explication, From "Euthanasia" to Sobibor addresses under-researched aspects of Nazi mass violence beyond the Holocaust and offers a rich resource for researching and teaching."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

The Niemann Photographs: A Unique Collection from the Holocaust / Martin Cüppers -- Johann Gerhard Niemann: From Völlen to Sobibor, Part 1 / Karin Graf and Florian Ross -- Photos from the Niemann Collection, up to -- Johann Gerhard Niemann: From Völlen to Sobibor, Part 2 / Karin Graf and Florian Ross -- Photos from the Niemann collection, from the Period of Operation T -- Realizing the Unthinkable: Operation T4, Operation Reinhard, and their Actors / Martin -- Cüppers -- Belzec: The First Operation Reinhard Killing Center / Florian Ross and Steffen Hänschen -- Niemann's Photos from Belzec -- The Sobibor Death Camp / Steffen Hänschen, Annett Gerhardt, Andreas Kahrs, Anne Lepper, -- and Martin Cüppers -- Niemann's photos from Sobibor -- The Trawnikis: Auxiliaries to the Holocaust / Martin Cüppers -- Reward for Genocide: A Trip to Berlin for Perpetrators from Operation Reinhard / Martin -- Cüppers and Steffen Hänschen -- The Berlin Album and Additional Travel Pictures -- The Revolt at Sobibor and the End of the Death Camp / Anne Lepper, Andreas Kahrs, Annett -- Gerhardt, and Steffen Hänschen -- Henriette Niemann: Wife and Mother, Confidante and Profiteer / Anne Lepper and Martin -- Cüppers -- Henriette Niemann in the Photo Collection -- Living with the Memory: Meetings with Semion Rozenfeld / Anne Lepper -- Photos with Semion Rozenfeld and a Map of Sobibor Drawn by Him -- Appendix 1: The Brandenburg Album -- Appendix 2: Documents from the Niemann Collection -- Appendix 3: Short Biographies of Survivors of the Sobibor Camp -- Appendix 4: Short Biographies of German Perpetrators.