Auschwitz ‘Portraitist’ Dies at 95
Wilhelm Brasse, known as the “Portraitist of Auschwitz,” has died.
Brasse died Tuesday in Zywiec, Poland. He was 95.
At the Auschwitz death camp, he took pictures of prisoners and photos for the experiments of Josef Mengele and Eduard Wirths. He had been sent to Auschwitz for refusing to register with the Volksliste, which classified the desirability of people living in Nazi-occupied territories. He was arrested by the Germans while trying to escape to Hungary.
Prior to World War II, Brasse worked as a photographer in Katowice specializing in portraits.
A film about him, “Portraitist,” was made in 2005.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
