Auschwitz through the lens of the SS: Photos of Nazi leadership at the camp

This is the introduction of the topic covered on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website.

"In January 2007, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received a donation of a photograph album. The inscription "Auschwitz 21.6.1944" on its first page signaled the uniqueness of the album—there are very few wartime photographs of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, which included Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi killing center. Though his name does not appear anywhere in the album, the dates of the photographs and various decorations including adjutant cords on the uniform of the album's owner, indicate that the album almost certainly belonged to and was created by SS-Obersturmführer Karl Höcker, the adjutant to the commandant of Auschwitz, SS-Sturmbannführer Richard Baer. Höcker was stationed at Auschwitz from May 1944 until the evacuation of the camp in January 1945."

Click on the first image to explore the album ! You'll discover the daily life of the SS. Many of the most remarkable photographs are taken at Solahütte, a little known SS resort some 30 km south of Auschwitz on the Sola River.

A "sing-along" during a social gathering of the SS hierarchy at Solahütte. The front row consists of (left to right): Karl Höcker, Otto Moll, Rudolf Höss, Richard Baer, Josef Kramer, Franz Hössler, and Josef Mengele. —United States Holocaust Memorial Museum #34739

The SS female auxiliaries (Helferinnen) react when it begins to rain on their day trip. —United States Holocaust Memorial Museum #34587

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website also displays the famous and terrible Auschwitz Album.
A photograph of a selection, from the Auschwitz Album. —United States Holocaust Memorial Museum #77234, courtesy of Yad Vashem