Auschwitz Album: Through the Lens of the SS

Now, there is a new album, the Auschwitz Album, that has been released online. It depicts 116 photos of Nazi SS soldiers as they conduct their lives at Auschwitz-Birkenau one of the premier death camps that exterminated so many innocent people in the most savage and barbaric ways ever known to man. The pictures were taken between May and December 1944, and include many images of the SS guards that have never been seen before. It's important to realize when looking at the pictures, that they were taken during the height of the slaughter of the Holocaust.

I can barely look at these SS officer's faces without cringing. The photos were maintained by an SS officer, Karl Höcker, and show that the Nazis were as heartless and cruel as we all know in our hearts they truly are.

I found myself trying to stare into their eyes, as if I would denote a hint of remorse, sadness, anything in these pictures, this Auschwitz Album that would signify they were participating in this slaughter against their will, their moral consciences, and reasoning. I found nothing but smiling faces, laughing, as if they were young soldiers in the prime of their lives, spending a wonderful day with friends.

Then I look at the other Auschwitz album. (Yad Vashem )The one that shows countless children, wounded broken bodies of those who were deemed, "unfit to live", frail old men and women as they wait for the chambers, and the millions of people whose lives were destroyed for no other reason then a raving lunatic was given power when he should have been locked away in a mental institution, and I break down and cry. I don't just shed one tear of compassion either. Deep wells of sorrow spring up in me and I cry until I feel that I can't look at another picture, that I must find something of hope in this world, to replace the wickedness, evil, and pure torture that one nation inflicted upon millions of innocent people. I wonder how many scientists, doctors, lawyers, poets, and artists were murdered. Then I think, how many mothers, fathers, families have been annihilated. Finally, I wonder how many people with handicaps, down syndrome, genetic disorders, or other ailments were murdered because one man decided they weren't fit to live. God thought they were fit to live, that's why they were alive, who did this man think he was to destroy people that God has made?

You thought you were God, but Hitler, if any of us could have looked at the intentions of your heart, you would have been the one deemed unfit to live, and it would have been you who were put to your grave. But I do believe in God, and I know that God is righteous, merciful, and executes judgment. Some people like to believe that heaven is a wonderful place and anyone can go there. I thank God, that he has rules, judgments, and justice. Because it would not be justice, for Hitler to enter heaven after all that he had done. I thank God that I believe in hell, and that you will receive your punishment.

As wicked and evil as people are, the Holocaust is the one great horror that I will never fathom. The only way I can understand it, is to reason that it is straight from the pit of hell. An orchestrated attack on the Jewish race, because as my Bible tells me, they are God's chosen people, and for that they are hated.

I am disgusted and horrified beyond measure that the Nazis did this evil atrocity in the name of Christianity. I am a Christian, and I read my Bible, both the Old and New Testament. Nowhere in my Bible did I ever get the inclination, notion, or subtle hint that the Jewish race is anything but highly favored of God. In fact, if it weren't for the writings of Paul that said, "There is no Jew nor Gentile" I would have supposed that God wanted us all to be Jews.

You cannot be a Christian and hate Jews. Jesus was born a Jew. The Apostles were Jews. Anyone who thinks they are a Christian and hates Jews is a liar, and you have no right calling yourself a Christian. In fact, if you are a Christian and even mutter a word about Jews, know that your father is not God in heaven, but one named Hitler, who came in the spirit of the anti-christ.

What horrifies me greatly, is that there are still people who deny the holocaust ever existed. That there are people on this planet so full of hatred, wickedness, and evil that they would love to see another holocaust. That the Jews continue to be persecuted, daily, by people's slurs, comments, and actions.

I am a Christian, I believe my Bible, my Bible says to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. If anyone thinks they are a Christian, and does not believe in seeking the peace and goodwill of Israel, you are deceived.

You don't have to be religious to recognize that God's hand is on Israel.

What country has endured such great hardship, persecution, and still stands strong in the face of adversity? What other nation continues to prosper and be blessed like Israel?

My heart breaks for those who lost their lives in the Holocaust. I cheered when I read about Sobibor, however none of the uprisings brought the liberation that those suffering were willing to die for. There was so much suffering, so much death, so much cruelty, and so much silence. Thank God for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the photos, and the PROOF that this atrocity occurred. People were silent for over a decade while people were being murdered in the cruelest manners known to man, thank God people will never be silent to the horrors of the holocaust again.

Auschwitz Through the Lens of the SS: Photos of Nazi Leadership at the Camp. The second known album of photographs from Auschwitz. You can view the special online display here.