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    SS-Ustuf Johann Niemann's Sobibor photo grouping

    Hi,

    you will find more infos on this incredible 2015/16's discovery on the next topic on which i posted an extensive report :

    http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru....php?t=1032056

    I will only repost the first post i made in this topic, for the sake of the discussion.

    I reworked the whole article of the Washington Post in a PDF file so anyone can be able to read it.

    Please note that the picture of Johann Niemann on his horse is reversed, i corrected it...

    All the various maps of Sobibor are incomplete and with errors, but i'm posting two of the best ones.

    First the map found in the Yitzhak Arad highly recommended book "Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka" (from the 1999 reprint edition, a new "upgraded" edition was published in 2018 which imo is not that good, i have it somewhere).

    Then a great 3D map originally published in the Netherlands.

    About the 5 pictures i originally posted, I just modified them as they were not originally horizontally made, and i will add some new comments to them.

    The first picture of the article is taken from the watchtower in the South-West corner, and is showing the Camp I for the prisoners, with the lone latrine.
    You can show in the foreground what seemed to be a stock of cut tree branches, used for the camouflage of the fence around the various parts of the camp.
    In the background, you can see the Camp II for the SS.
    On the right of the picture, you can see the pole with the SS flag at the entrance. It is said to be from the Summer of 1943, a few months before the revolt and the closure of the camp.

    The second picture shows the entrance of Camp II.
    Please note that deportees rarely walked through this entrance, as a special railway track was entering the camp, in which train cars were pulled in.
    You can see the camouflaged fence with tree branches, like in all the other death camps.

    The third picture has the next caption on the article : "SS personnel, including commandant Franz Reichleitner and deputy commandant Johann Niemann, gather on a patio at Sobibor in 1943, drinking from glasses that historians say could have been stolen from murdered Jews."

    The fourth picture is showing Niemann on his horse, in the forward camp.
    Behind him is one of the barracks for the Ukrainian guards.

    The fifth picture is said to show John Demjanjuk (in the foreground center) in Sobibor in Spring 1943. I'm pretty sure that the location is identified in the book "Fotos aus Sobibor", in my opinion the picture was taken inside the camp, maybe in front of Camp III fence, and the "chimney" we can see could be the one of the barracks for the Arbeitsjuden prisoners of Camp III (maybe barracks 49 on the Arad map ?).

    Now we have a few pictures of the three Operation Reinhard death camps.

    I take the opportunity to post the also excellent works of Alex Bay, who "reconstructed" Belzec and Treblinka camps :

    https://phdn.org/archives/holocaust-...zec/index.html

    https://phdn.org/archives/holocaust-...nka/index.html

    See You

    Vince
    Attached Files

    #2
    will order the book today, think will come out im Februar. Historic Addition to the Höcker Album book. Hope the Niemann book is also well done from the historic aspect.

    Niemann on the horse poser. Taken on the ramp with photograph er on the rails.

    Comment


      #3
      Hi,

      it seemed that the album is already physically available, but i didn't try to order it yet ?

      I'm including below the summary of the book, and two aerial pictures of the camp taken in 1944, courtesy of ww2aerialreconstudies.com.

      The Höcker album, for the people who may not know its content, is an album which was donated to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2007.

      The album was originally owned by Karl Höcker, deputy of Richard Baer, Commandant of Auschwitz I camp (not to be confused with Auschwitz-Birkenau II camp or Auschwitz-Monowitz III camp).
      Starting from May 1944, both were in charge of Auschwitz I during the extermination of the Hungarian Jews in Auschwitz II.

      The album mainly shows mainly high-ranking SS officers of the camp (including the infamous Joseph Mengele) relaxing with SS-Aufseherinnen at the Solahütte resort located 30 km of Auschwitz.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solah%C3%BCtte

      Some pictures of the Höcker album can be seen on this French website dealing with the Sonderkommandos of Auschwitz :

      https://www.sonderkommando.info/inde...e-karl-hoecker

      The German edition of the Höcker album :

      https://www.amazon.com/Das-Höcker-Album/dp/3805349580

      See You

      Vince
      Attached Files

      Comment


        #4
        it seemed that the album is already physically available, but i didn't try to order it yet ?


        Online only pre orders, its not out yet but soon.




        Solahütte Location, the sorrounding houses are still there. The earth is getting since decades searched from metal detector use. It´s 1h south from the camp.
        Attached Files
        Last edited by Robert H; 01-30-2020, 06:10 AM.

        Comment


          #5
          Hi,

          this is strange because journalists got their copies of the book last Sunday ?

          See You

          Vince
          Attached Files

          Comment


            #6
            As Robert says - you can indeed pre-order this book now online (I'm holding out for a possible English translated version in the future)

            UK website that I viewed it on says release date in 2 days time.

            Cheers

            Steve

            Comment


              #7
              Hi

              I would just like to add that the version of this book I found for pre-order in the UK is the paperback one, and not I think the hardcover version as shown in Vince's last post.

              Cheers

              Steve

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Robert H View Post
                Solahütte Location, the sorrounding houses are still there. The earth is getting since decades searched from metal detector use. It´s 1h south from the camp.
                Robert

                Just to be certain - Perhaps you meant to say where the Solahütte once stood, is about 1 hour away from BIRKENAU . . . but is every bit of 6 hours from where the Sobibor facility was located.

                Wouldn't want to surprise someone who decides to visit Sobibor - with their hopes up for a short drive to where the Solahütte used to be.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Hi,

                  yes Robert was speaking of the Höcker album, and yes the location is around 40km to the South of Auschwitz area on road.

                  See You

                  Vince
                  Attached Files

                  Comment


                    #10
                    received my book, 382 pages. Very good Text and many unknown photos, well good researched and puplished.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Hi

                      For anyone like myself who is hoping for an English edition of this book, I have just been informed by the publishers Metropol Verlag in Berlin that there should be one which will be published through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)

                      Cheers

                      Steve

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Hi,

                        great news Steve, many thanks for asking !

                        Maybe the content will be a bit different, as it seemed that the USHMM was less sure that Demjanjuk may have not been pictured amongst the Trawniki guards.

                        See You

                        Vince

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Hi,

                          i received my copy today, and i will post additional pictures and infos.

                          The book is just massive, actually dozen of pictures of the Forward Camp (SS quarters) are included.

                          The next 4 pictures are not taken in Sobibor, but are showing the kind of other pictures included in the book.

                          See You

                          Vince
                          Attached Files

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Hi,

                            now back to the Sobibor camp.

                            First, you will find a new map of the area.

                            It should be noted that the size and position of most of the buildings are far from perfect.
                            In my opinion there is a massive error in the map, as it seemed that the central watch tower and the fire tower switched place by error.
                            So 18 (the central watch tower) should at the place of the fire tower (noted 9 in Lager II).

                            Many buildings of the Forward Camp (SS quarters, called Vorlager in the map) still existed at the end of the war. But today, only building 11 (the old Post Office) remains. It is shown on the first picture, courtesy of Google Maps.
                            Now the local forester is using it.

                            Another interesting picture amongst the dozen of the Forward Camp that are presented in the book is the second picture : it is probably taken between buildings 13 and 16, and is showing the building 5 (backery of the Lager I) and near it the central watch tower. On the right, one of the Trawniki buildings (the area was modified over the months of existence of the camp).

                            See You

                            Vince
                            Attached Files

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Hi,

                              the first two pictures are showing some Trawniki guards, many pictures exist in the "Sobibor" album.

                              The third one is über interesting... Like for one picture in the Treblinka Kurt Franz album that is showing the first gas chamber building, this Niemann picture is for now the only known that shows the roof of the gas chamber building.
                              You can see the "Snorkel" pipe that is visible over the fence.

                              Like i previously thought, the picture is taken in the "prairie" located between Lager II and Lager III.

                              See You

                              Vince
                              Attached Files

                              Comment

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