Seeing Auschwitz: Through The Eyes Of The Perpetrator

A new exhibition in London’s South Kensington, Seeing Auschwitz explores photographs taken by two SS officers in 1944

The story behind Seeing Auschwitz, now showing at 81 Old Brompton Road, is distinctive. Described as “a visual journey through the crimes the Nazis tried to hide”, the exhibition features images from a private album discovered by a Holocaust survivor after the Second World War.

A team of historians, known for their expertise in Holocaust education and history, curated Seeing Auschwitz for Musealia in collaboration with the Auschwitz–Birkenau State Museum. The photographs and stories on display transport viewers back in time, guiding them through confluent issues of displacement, antisemitism and fear and composing a striking visual depiction of life within the imposing walls of the infamous camp.

Seeing Auschwitz is a multi-media compilation of unique evidence captured by the perpetrators themselves. What sets this visually-powerful exhibition apart from the rest is the way that it critically analyses the content it presents. Choosing not to take these images at surface value, the curators behind the exhibition help viewers to understand that they are looking at the horrors through the eyes of SS officers who documented them.

“Seeing Auschwitz encourages us to look beyond the four edges of the photograph and through the veil of seemingly ordinary faces to confront the reality of what we are seeing,” Seeing Auschwitz. “Visitors are confronted by what it means to share the gaze of the perpetrator, the victim, the onlooker, and to reflect on what this means for us today.”

Accompanied by videos of similar and more recent tragedies, the exhibition ultimately draws viewers to a difficult question: why is this still happening? Seeing Auschwitz is a multi-layered and deeply impactful exhibition that pushes viewers to reassess the way they analyse history and raises awareness of current issues.

Seeing Auschwitz is showing at 81 Old Brompton Road until 12th February.