a eassy about a photograph by simon norfolk.
A simple flight or stairs, leading up,, or down.
They look like any set of stairs, that could be anywhere in the world, and made anytime in the 21st century.
Then you notice the wear on the steps, the wear and tear that only comes from many years of use, and many feet passing over them, slowly wearing the stone away.
These steps are situated in the former concentration camp at Auschwitz.
I think this photo makes an extraordinary statement.
How many feet does it take to wear marks such as these, on a stone stairway?.
How many people walked down these steps to their death?.
I feel this image portrays a great sense, of absence, of the people that where once there, and now are long since dead, killed in the gas cambers.
This is a fairly simple image, with few elements. Its what's not there where the power lies.
This image was taken using a medium format camera, resulting in the high quality, large print, and also dictates the square format. The image is framed tightly, using a fairly long lens, (75mm) cropping out what is above, below and to the sides, featuring just the steps, and the handrail, and only a slight hint of what's down the steps to the left. .
This tight framing creates a dominating, and solid feeling to the shot.
He has decided not to show details of the window above, but instead just allow the light that is flowing down, catching the edges of the worn steps, with a crisp highlight, which emphasizes the wear that they have suffered. There is however, still a good level of foreground detail, in the shadows the light from the window has left. There's light from another source, which has picked out detail of texture, on both the floor, and stone steps themselves.
The photographer, Simon Norfolk has, and still does set out to capture images with a powerful social comment about the past. And this is image is most certainly one of them. Born in 1963, on Lagos, Nigeria, he moved to England and studied documentary photography at Gwent College, Newport.
The name Auschwitz rings terror to the ears of so many. ... Some think that at least 1,100,000 Jews from all of Europe died at Auschwitz. ... Auschwitz was actually a series of three camps. ... The second part was Auschwitz II also known as Auschwitz-Birkenau. ... Most of the victims of Auschwitz were murdered here. ...
Auschwitz Located thirty seven miles west of Krakow , Auschwitz was the camp where Jewish people were killed and were worked to death . ... The prisoners at Auschwitz mainly consisted of Jews . ... The best known doctor at Auschwitz was Josef Mangele . ... Auschwitz was made up of three parts : first Auschwitz was the main concentration camp and also the first and oldest . ... Birkenau was the largest part of the Auschwitz camp . ...
Auschwitz - Birkenau could hold up to 70,000 prisoners at a time. ... Thousands were dying a day at Auschwitz. ... Block ten was the medical experimentation center in Auschwitz. ... Word about Auschwitz, and other concentration camps spread. ... Auschwitz was the largest graveyard in human history. ...
Recently, there has been an ongoing debate on whether or not Auschwitz should be maintained. To our readers who may not know, Auschwitz was the biggest Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust, consisting of 48 smaller concentration, extermination, and labour camps it comprised 3 large camps: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and a work camp called Auschwitz III-Monowitz. ... Even with other countries helping however, Poland still funds 94% of the total funding of Auschwitz (again according to the BBC), so cost is still an issue. ... Former Auschwitz inmate Wladyslaw Bartoszewski made ...
Auschwitz Auschwitz began as a barracks camp in the town of Oswiecim, for the polish army in the early 1930's. ... Hoss was Auschwitz's first commandant. ... The conditions at Auschwitz were unthinkable. ... Punishment at Auschwitz was sever and biased. ... Winter at Auschwitz was even worse. ...
One of the most famous camps, would be Auschwitz. ... In his novel, he wrote about Auschwitz being "the worst time of his life.... When arriving to Auschwitz, the unloading of rail transports of prisoners took place on a ramp beside the camp in the prison huts of Auschwitz I. ... They would be given their "souvenir" of their stay at Auschwitz. ... Although there were many different camps at the Auschwitz grounds, the main one is Auschwitz I. ...
It was a sign that hung over the gates of Auschwitz. ... The inmates of Auschwitz hardly had clothes. ... The doctors of Auschwitz played a crucial role. ... Resistance was almost impossible in Auschwitz. ... He came to Auschwitz in 1941. ...
Levi was a twenty four year old chemist when he arrived in Auschwitz. ... However, he survived eleven months in Auschwitz. ... However, it could be interpreted that he lost himself in Auschwitz. ... Primo Levi speaks of Auschwitz with the mentality of a prisoner. ... Perhaps Levi survived Auschwitz physically but not mentally. ...
Over the years Auschwitz began to expand into three separate parts. ... On March 1941, Himmler ordered the construction of Auschwitz II, or Birkenau, which was a larger section of the camp, 1.9 miles from Auschwitz I (Museum 1). Birkenau held up to 100,000 prisoners (Auschwitz) and was known as the most cruel and heartless section of Auschwitz. ... As soon as the prisoners arrived in Auschwitz they went through a process known as selection. ... Mengele voluntarily went to Auschwitz to conduct medical experiments, primarily on twins (Auschwitz). ...
