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An aerial reconnaissance photograph showing Auschwitz II (Birkenau).

Photograph | Digitized | Photograph Number: 03983

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    An aerial reconnaissance photograph showing Auschwitz II (Birkenau).
    An aerial reconnaissance photograph showing Auschwitz II (Birkenau).

    Overview

    Caption
    An aerial reconnaissance photograph showing Auschwitz II (Birkenau).
    Date
    1944 August 25
    Locale
    Auschwitz, [Upper Silesia] Poland
    Variant Locale
    Brzezinka
    Birkenau
    Auschwitz III
    Monowitz
    Auschwitz II
    Photo Credit
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
    Event History
    One of a series of aerial photographs taken by Allied reconnaissance units under the command of the 15th U.S. Army Air Force during missions dating between April 4, 1944 and January 14, 1945. The photos were used to plan bombing raids, determine the accuracy of bombing sorties, or make damage assessments. A typical sortie employed two cameras equipped with lenses of different focal lengths.

    After the war the Auschwitz reconnaissance photographs were stored in the archives of the Defense Intelligence Agency (Washington, D.C.) until they were rediscovered in 1978 by two CIA photo analysts, Dino Brugioni and Robert Poirer. The photographs were later declassified and transferred to the National Archives, where they became RG 373. A selection of images were enlarged and annotated with identifying labels by the CIA in 1978.

    See https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10008041.
    See Also https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005189.
    See Also "Auschwitz Main Camp" in Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, Volume 1 Part A.

    Rights & Restrictions

    Photo Source
    National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
    Copyright: Public Domain
    Source Record ID: 373-Aerial Photographs--F5367-3185

    Keywords & Subjects

    Record last modified:
    2001-11-20 00:00:00
    This page:
    http:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/pa28506

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