Mugshots in Auschwitz

[Yuli]

Perhaps someone can clarify the following issues:

1. What was the purpose of taking mugshots of prisoners entering the camp in Auschwitz (the only KL where this was practiced). The usual explanation is that the mugshots were used to identify the faces of escapees. Is this true? Were the printed mugshots distributed among units searching for runaway prisoners?

2. After taking the mugshots of prisoners, were the negatives used to make prints? Were the prints attached to the registration cards of each prisoner that was photographed?

Thank you for your knowledge.

[snpol]

I join to this request. Indeed why?
Maybe because initially Auschwitz was designated for political prisoners?
I would like to mention an example
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Rebet

Lev Rebet in Auschwitz, 1941.

Rebet was born in the town of Stryi, in Western Ukraine into a family of Jewish origin.

Rebet became a key writer and thinker in the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists

On June 30, 1941, when the OUN proclaimed independence in Lviv occupied by German troops, Rebet became the deputy prime minister of the Ukrainian government, appointed by the prime minister Yaroslav Stetsko.
When Stetsko was arrested, Rebet became acting prime minister of the Government.

[Yuli]

Certainly Auschwitz was not the only Nazi camp for political prisoners. So why mugshots taken only in Auschwitz?
By the way: what the insignia "Pole:U" in the photo? Is the U for Ukrainian?

[Sergey Romanov]

Certainly Auschwitz was not the only Nazi camp for political prisoners. So why mugshots taken only in Auschwitz?
By the way: what the insignia "Pole:U" in the photo? Is the U for Ukrainian?

Political prisoner, Ukrainian.

[Waleed Y. Majeed]

Here's a description of the "who and how" concerning the pictures taken and the Gestapo Erkennungsdienst is mentioned.
http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/about-th ... ers-photos

waleed

[Yuli]

Thanks. This "who and how" information is known and is also depicted in the autobiographic book and film "the Portraitist" of Wilhelm Brasse. However, none of these sources address my questions regarding the purpose of the whole ordeal and why only in Auschwitz.

[Waleed Y. Majeed]

Indeed it does address your question. It mentions names and not least the "erkennungsdienst". A quick search gave me even more information. Every major camp (if not all) had a gestapo section running the "Politisch Abteilung". The photo registration was a subsection of the "PA". Photographing was not an "only in Auschwitz" thing. Here's a link to a Neuengamme example: http://media.offenes-archiv.de/Rathaus2 ... dienst.pdf

waleed

[Yuli]

My first question was: why was this practice performed systematically in Auschwitz on almost every prisoners brought into the camp. Can you explain this to me based on your research?

Thank you for the link. It is certainly very interesting to see the photos from Neuengamme KL, which were performed Auschwitz-style (three angles, etc.). I have never seen this before. Was this a routine also in Neuengamme? and for what purpose? Of course I know that there was a Political Department (Gestapo) and an "erkennungsdienst" in each large camp, but how common was it to take mugshots of all inmates or of selected prisoners?

[history1]

Certainly Auschwitz was not the only Nazi camp for political prisoners. So why mugshots taken only in Auschwitz?
By the way: what the insignia "Pole:U" in the photo? Is the U for Ukrainian?

It´s not "Pole" but "Pol." what stands for Politischer Häftling = political inmate.
And yes, the "U" stands for the Ukraine.

[GregSingh]

So why mugshots taken only in Auschwitz?
which were performed Auschwitz-style

Photos were taken of every person charged by Kriminalpolizei, not only of KL political prisoners.
It was a standard police procedure as it is still today in many countries.

Photos you attached seem to be cut out from a prisoner's file.

Every Kriminalpolizeileitstelle in Germany had a manual issued called Aktenplan und Dienstanweisungen, which explained all procedures of creating a file. Here is how a photo page should look like according to KPLSt. Prag manual.

[Yuli]

Yet in Auschwitz this procedure was not limited to criminal prisoners. So back to question one: Why was this procedure expanded to practically all inmates in that camp (I know that some inmates were spared the mugshots, especially in later years of he camp)?

Also, were the political prisoners also finger-printed? In Auschwitz as well?