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The flowers of Birkenau, photo essay by Andrea Giubelli

Netting of extermination camp of Birkenau, Poland – May 2015
The flowers of Birkenau, photo essay by Andrea Giubelli
[V]isiting the nazi extermination camp of Birkenau, the first thing you notice is the large dimension. A huge area surrounded by netting. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the most important concentration and extermination camp established by Nazi Germany to implement its Final Solution policy. In the camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau 1,2 million people were exterminated. Nowadays the camp is a large green field spotted by flowers, but seventy years ago the prisoners couldn’t see the grass and the flowers: the field was trampled by wooden clogs of the prisoners and the boots of the guards. The prisoners lived in a world without color: the field dry and dusty in the short Polish summer and muddy and snow during the long winter months. Thinking to the monochrome place of those days, I have taken the images where the grass and the flowers are the main subjects: the colors that the prisoners didn’t see. For this reason I didn’t choose the black and white to increase the drama (could a photo increase the level of drama seen at Auschwitz-Birkenau?). With the flowers and the green grass that nowadays covering the extermination camp, I’d like to make a small gift to the victims. (Andrea Giubelli)

Netting of extermination camp of Birkenau, Poland – May 2015
Flowers and grass of Birkenau, Poland – May 2015
The flowers next the netting of Birkenau, Poland – May 2015
The guards office of Birkenau, Poland – May 2015
A shack for the prisoners, Birkenau, Poland – May 2015
An observation tower of the guards of Birkenau, Poland – May 2015
Inside a shack. A flower for not to forget. Birkenau, Poland – May 2015
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Andrea Giubelli

I’m an italian amateur photographer. I have collaborated with Innovation Norway, Trimaran (France) and some images of my trips were published in several web… More »

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