The Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre in Forest Town, together with its partners Rosa Luxembourg Stiftung, the United Nations Information Centre in Pretoria, Embassy of Germany, Embassy of Israel, Embassy of Austria and the Embassy of Poland commemorated the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz for International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The Commemoration featured a walkabout lecture of the exhibition titled Seeing Auschwitz by Chief curator Paul Salmons where he spoke about the photos discovered in Auschwitz . There are approximately 200 of these photos taken by Nazis and they are some of the only images that provide a mental image of the camp – how we ” see ” Auschwitz.
The Auschwitz album which was discovered in 1945 contains the only photos yet found of arrival and selection for the gas chambers of Auschwitz- Birkenau.
These photos were taken during May, June and July of 1944.
Other images include pictures drawn by David Olere, a survivor, he meticulously drew 70 images with extraordinary precision depicting what he had witnessed inside the crematorium.
The evening event included a candle lighting ceremony by Holocaust survivors.
by Marion Kate
