Take a visual journey through the crimes the Nazis tried to hide through their own images, sketches and testimonies in this vital exhibition

Is there anything more that another exhibition about the Holocaust could possibly offer the viewer? In this instance, absolutely. Seeing Auschwitz brings together over 150 vivid photographs, mainly taken by the SS, to show the atrocities of Auschwitz from a different perspective: that of the perpetrators.

We see the all too familiar trainload of Jewish deportees arriving at the camp, awaiting further instructions. The photos are taken from an elevated standpoint, thus providing more details than usual – simultaneously familiar and revelatory. We see bewildered parents clutching their children and possessions, whilst in the foreground an inmate speaks to a new arrival – an action forbidden by the guards. Perhaps he is whispering advice in order to mediate the shock of what is to come. In the background are the smoking chimneys of the crematoria. A chilling sight.

The opening images come from an album discovered after the war, documenting a three-month period in 1944 when almost half a million people were murdered at Auschwitz. The clear camera shots are juxtaposed with blurred ones, which show the activity of the Sonderkommandos (work units comprising prisoners in the death camps), forced to empty the gas chambers, extract gold teeth and feed the bodies into ovens. Further on, detailed drawings by an inmate, which were hidden inside a bottle, depict the brutality of the guards and the moment of separation of family members, destined for the gas chambers.

The recent German trial and conviction of 97-year-old Irmgard Furchner, who worked in a secretarial capacity assisting the camp commando at Stutthof concentration camp, is brought to mind when faced with photos of the women employed at Auschwitz. They are seen taking a break from their labours, relaxing in the sun. One of them plays with a child on her knee. According to witnesses and Red Army Liberators of Auschwitz, the stench of bodies and evidence of mass killings was abundant, yet the images show that for these women it was apparently possible to carry on as normal. Hannah Arendt’s powerful phrase, "the banality of evil", is reflected in these images. Many are both so ordinary, yet simultaneously so hideously extraordinary.

Visitors are provided with a headset, however, the silence within the display space bears witness to the inexpressibly sombre response evoked by this important exhibition.

By Eleanor Levy

Photos © Seeing Auschwitz: The Exhibition

Seeing Auschwitz: The Exhibition runs until Sunday 12 February. 81 Old Brompton Rd, SW7 3LD. seeingauschwitz.com