Holocaust Memorial Day
Holocaust Memorial Day takes place every year on 27th January. In this blog, we look at photographers who have captured scenes from the Holocaust and a number of genocides in their work.
Simon Norfolk is a landscape photographer, who has most recently exhibited at Open Eye Gallery in 2012. His work is captivating and explores some of the worlds most horrific war zones. The body of work ‘For Most Of It I Have No Words: Genocide, Landscape, Memory’, is a thought-provoking series. Norfolk embodies how race, religion or nation can lead to such horror in communities. The photographs include skulls of bodies found around a church in Rwanda to ash ponds at Auschwitz. He uses black and white photography to capture an eerie and still portrayal. There is a certain aspect of beauty within his work, as he has captured the purity of the places. Norfolk wants to question the idea that if a large number of people are killed, for example 6 million, soon after the public start to question the reality of the atrocity. Where as if, for example, 6 people are killed, it is news of the day.
The simple message that Norfolk is saying in his work ‘is not about yesterday, history- it is about today’. As we commemorate the Holocaust, Norfolk’s words are a key message to remember.
Signed copies of Simon Norfolk’s book ‘For Most Of It I Have No Words: Genocide, Landscape, Memory’ are available in our independent shop for £30.
Kate Kornberg’s project ‘Witnesses: the Holocaust by Bullets’, looks at the people who witnessed the Holocaust in their communities. They have never told their stories before, and now they want to make sure they keep this tragedy from disappearing. The body of work is in colour and projects every line and shade within the persons face. On the contrary to Norfolk’s work, the photographs are upfront and clear, making the viewer see every flaw.
When viewing the photograph, at first you see a portrait, for example the photograph ‘Praskovia, Lokhvytsia, Ukraine’, but when you read the description “The Jews undressed to their underwear, the infants were covered only with their blankets. The police brought them all to the pit.” you look at it in a different way; you almost see what Paraskovia sees.
The work embodies Norfolk’s belief that ‘history is today’. These people are living with what they witnessed and are concerned that no one is talking about their experiences.
Refusing to declare his loyalty to Adolf Hitler, Wilhelm Brasse was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau on August 31, 1940. As a prisoner in Auschwitz, his role was to take photographs of fellow inmates at the death camp. He once said he photographed between 40,000 to 50,000 prisoners.
Brasse learnt photography from his aunt in Poland. As he was a skilled photographer and could speak German, he was appointed to create photographs for incoming prisoners identity cards.
“When they arrived at Auschwitz, people’s faces were full, they looked normal. Just weeks later, if they were still alive, they were unrecognizable.” Brasse told the AFP in a 2009 interview.
Before the Soviet army liberated the camp, Brasse was instructed to destroy all of the negatives, but he didn’t. A lot of the images are now on display at the Auschwitz museum. When Brasse returned to his home he wanted to continue taking photographs, but the experiences he had witnessed in Auschwitz were too haunting. “Those poor Jewish children were always before my eyes,” Brasse told AFP in 2009. “There are things you can never forget.”
Brasse’s photographs not only capture a moment in time, but also are part of history.
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Written by Madeleine Wright, Youth Champion Board Member for the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
madeleinegwright.wixsite.com/textiles
Find more information about the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust here: hmd.org.uk
