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An aerial reconnaissance photograph of the Auschwitz area showing the three main camps , Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II (Birkenau), and Auschwitz III (Monowitz), as well as the I.G. Farben complex. The image demonstrates the relative size of the three camps. [oversized photograph]

Photograph | Photograph Number: 04144
An aerial reconnaissance photograph of the Auschwitz area showing the three main camps , Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II (Birkenau), and Auschwitz III (Monowitz), as well as the I.G. Farben complex. The image demonstrates the relative size of the three camps. [oversized photograph] Mission: 60 PRS/462 60 SQ; Scale: 1/54,000; Focal Length: 6"; Altitude: 27,000'

An aerial reconnaissance photograph of the Auschwitz area showing the three main camps , Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II (Birkenau), and Auschwitz III (Monowitz), as well as the I.G. Farben complex. The image demonstrates the relative size of the three camps. [oversized photograph]

Mission: 60 PRS/462 60 SQ; Scale: 1/54,000; Focal Length: 6"; Altitude: 27,000'

Date
1944 May 31
Locale
Auschwitz, [Upper Silesia] Poland
Variant Locale
Brzezinka
Birkenau
Auschwitz III
Monowitz
Auschwitz II
Photo Designation
KILLING CENTERS -- Auschwitz -- WARTIME -- Aerial Photographs -- 31 May 1944
Photo Credit
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park

About This Photograph

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.

Keywords and Subjects

Rights and Restrictions

Photo Source
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
Copyright: Public Domain
Source Record ID: 373-Aerial Photographs--D1510-5019
 
Record last modified: 1998-03-24 00:00:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa29077