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Laughter at Auschwitz – in 1944 SS auxiliaries poses at a resort for Auschwitz personnel

Ian Smith
Laughter lines the faces of camp staff as they prepare for a sing-song.
Laughter lines the faces of camp staff as they prepare for a sing-song.

The photos were taken between May and December 1944, and they show the officers and guards of the Auschwitz relaxing and enjoying themselves — as countless people were being murdered and cremated at the nearby death camp. In some of the photos, SS officers can be seen singing. In others they are hunting and in another a man can be seen decorating a Christmas tree in what could only be described as a holiday in hell. The album also contains eight photos of Josef Mengele — some of the very few existing snapshots taken of the concentration camp’s notorious doctor during the time he spent there.

 

Karl Hoecker album Laughing at Auschwitz
Karl Hoecker album Laughing at Auschwitz. source

 

Helferinnen, in wool skirts and cotton blouses, listen to the accordion and eat blueberries, which Karl Hoecker had served to them.
Helferinnen, in wool skirts and cotton blouses, listen to the accordion and eat blueberries, which Karl Hoecker had served to them. source

The images are significant because there are few photos available today of the “social life” of the SS officers who were responsible for the mass murder at Auschwitz. These are the first leisure time photos of the concentration camp’s SS officers to be discovered, though similar images do exist for other camps, including Sachsenhausen, Dachau and Buchenwald.

A group photo of the mass murderers of Auschwitz - Josef Kramer, Josef Mengele, Richard Baer, Karl Höcker (from left; man at right unidentified)
A group photo of the mass murderers of Auschwitz – Josef Kramer, Josef Mengele, Richard Baer, Karl Höcker (from left; man at right unidentified). source

 

A large group of SS officers visit a coal mine near Auschwitz.
A large group of SS officers visit a coal mine near Auschwitz. source

The album belonged to Karl Höcker, the adjutant to the final camp commandant at Auschwitz, Richard Baer. Höcker took the pictures as personal keepsakes. Prior to its liberation by the Allies, Höcker fled Auschwitz. After the war, he worked for years, unrecognized, in a bank. But in 1963 he was forced to answer to charges for his role at Auschwitz at a trial in Frankfurt. In his closing words in the trial, Höcker claimed: “I had no possibility in any way to influence the events and I neither wanted them to happen nor took part in them. I didn’t harm anyone and no one died at Auschwitz because of me.” In the end, though, he was convicted on charges of aiding and abetting the murders of 1,000 Jews and was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was released after serving five years. In 2000, he died at the age of 88.

Finding comfort at Auschwitz SS officers drink together.
Finding comfort at Auschwitz SS officers drink together. source

 

Hoecker, lying on a wooden platform about the height of a table, shoots a rifle. Right- Hoecker in his summer uniform.
Hoecker, lying on a wooden platform about the height of a table, shoots a rifle. Right- Hoecker in his summer uniform. source

The photos were made public by the United States National Holocaust Museum in Washington. The museum obtained the photos from a retired US Army intelligence officer, who came across the album in an apartment in Frankfurt and has now given them to the museum. “These unique photographs vividly illustrate the contented world they enjoyed while overseeing a world of unimaginable suffering,” museum director Sara Bloomfield said in a statement. “They offer an important perspective on the psychology of those perpetrating genocide.” The director of the museum’s photographic reference collection, Judith Cohen, said there are no photos depicting anything abhorrent, “and that’s precisely what makes them so horrible.”

Karl Hoecker (right) with Richard Baer and Rudolf Hoess.
Karl Hoecker (right) with Richard Baer and Rudolf Hoess. source

 

Karl Hoecker en route to or returning from Solahütte.
Karl Hoecker en route to or returning from Solahütte. source
Laughter lines the faces of camp staff as they prepare for a sing-song.
Laughter lines the faces of camp staff as they prepare for a sing-song. source

 

Singing to release the stress an accordianist leads a sing-along for SS officers.
Singing to release the stress an accordionist leads a sing-along for SS officers. source

 

SS officers relax on the grounds of the Solahütte retreat.
SS officers relax on the grounds of the Solahütte retreat. source

 

SS officers relax together with women and a baby on a deck at Solahütte.
SS officers relax together with women and a baby on a deck at Solahütte. source

 

Taking a break. The second person is the notorious concentration camp doctor Josef Mengele (The Angel of the Death).
Taking a break. The second person is the notorious concentration camp doctor Josef Mengele (The Angel of the Death). source

 

The opening of a hospital at Auschwitz. source
The opening of a hospital at Auschwitz. source

 

Twelve SS auxiliaries sit happily on a fence railing eating blueberries given to them by an SS officer.
Twelve SS auxiliaries sit happily on a fence railing eating blueberries given to them by an SS officer. source

 

Ian Smith

Ian Smith is one of the authors writing for The Vintage News