Harrowing newly-colourised photos show Auschwitz as its never been seen before in powerful new documentary
A collection of harrowing photographs from the Auschwitz death camp are to be shown for the first time in a new documentary.
Taken in 1944 by a German photographer at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Nazi-German occupied Poland, the images show Jewish prisoners arriving at the extermination camp where 1.1 million people died either in the gas chambers, or from starvation, forced labour, infectious diseases, individual executions or medical experiments between 1940 and 1945.
The newly-colourised photos are to be shown for the first time in a new documentary.
One photo shows new arrivals being herded like cattle by SS officers.
Another shows a group of women clutching hold of their few remaining belongings.
Over 1.1 million people died or were killed between 1940 and 1945 at Nazi Germany’s most notorious death camp.
Yet another is of two terrified-looking boys awaiting their fate.
The photos are part of a collection called the Auschwitz Album and includes over 100 images from the camp.
The photos are part of a collection called the Auschwitz Album which includes over 100 images from the camp.
Of that number 37 have now been colourised for the new two-part documentary to be shown on British TV ahead of the 75th anniversary of the camp’s liberation to bring alive the horror of the Holocaust for a new generation.
Producer and director David Shulman said: “My ambition in making Auschwitz Untold in Colour was to have as much contemporary resonance as possible.
The photos were taken in 1944 by a German photographer at the camp.
“The colourisation of black and white archive is one aspect of making this history more accessible to a younger audience and giving greater humanity to the people seen in the footage.”
Sheldon Lazarus, development producer at Fulwell73 - the production company behind the documentary - added: “The 16 survivors who feature in this series tell their extraordinary accounts of survival and resistance against all odds in their own voices, and accompanied by remarkable colourised footage from the archives, we hope this series will help remove a barrier that separates contemporary audiences from the reality of the Holocaust so that we never ever forget the atrocities of the past.
The documentary Auschwitz Untold in Colour aims to bring the horrors of the Holocaust to contemporary audiences “so that we never ever forget the atrocities of the past.”
“With the 75th anniversary to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz in 2020 we felt it was really timely and important to bring to life the untold stories of the Holocaust in a new way.”
The documentary will be screened on Sunday 26th January on Channel Four's More4.
