The Camps – Photographs of the Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps (1933–1999)

Article 11000479
CHF 25.00
incl. 8.1% VAT
Availability: In stock
  • 3-6 business days
  • Shipping within Switzerland from CHF 5.- (see checkout)
  • International shipping On request
  • 30 days return policy

Product description

The images we have in our memories of the Nazi concentration and extermination camps are usually blurred and stereotyped: piles of skeletal bodies, an emaciated face with an unfathomable gaze, barbed wire, watchtowers… All this is wrapped up in a huge and ill-defined iconographic lexicon of infamy.

It has to be said that this is an area where great confusion reigns. Where the deceitful images of Nazi propaganda are unscrupulously juxtaposed with photographs taken when the camps were liberated, and these are in turn shown alongside contemporary images of the camps as and when they were transformed into memorials or museums. Even more problematic is the fact that these images are in most cases published without any details concerning the events shown, without any indication of date or place, and without the name or even nationality of the photographer: they are presented as “icons of horror”.

Moreover, the treatment of these images has varied considerably over the last half-century and more. In the aftermath of the war, the spontaneous reflex was to show them frequently, without prior precautions or reflection, as if they were self-explanatory. Then, in the years that followed, this pedagogy of horror was replaced by a more controlled dissemination, tempered by the concern for reconciliation with Germany. Today, it would seem that we can begin to try and take a more measured, both critical and analytic look at these images. Indeed, when we bear in mind that, for most of us, these photographs constitute our first encounter with the events of the holocaust and deportation, the need for a historical examination seems all the more pressing.

Whereas in-depth research has already been carried out for other modes of representation (painting, sculpture, cinema, literature, etc.), the relations between photography and the world of the camps has been little explored. True, there have been articles about Nazi photographs and a few books on the way photographers covered the liberation of the camps, or on the work of memory undertaken by contemporary practitioners, but there has been no attempt at synthesis, no overall, precise study of the specific aspects of this photography as well as the interactions between them. That is the aim of this exhibition, Mémoire des camps, and the accompanying book.

Details

Dimensions: 90.5 x 128 cm

Payment methods

Pay with:

Payment Methods

For orders over CHF 300.– you can send the order by email to shop@fotomuseum.ch and you will then receive an invoice.

Return policy

The product return period is 30 days from the date the product was received. Excluded from this are memberships, vouchers and e-tickets, which cannot be returned.

Unfortunately, we cannot offer returns in the following cases:
– For damaged items, unless they have already been received damaged.
– If accessories are missing.
– If the return period has passed.

Provided the product can be returned, the full price will be refunded.

Postage costs for returning items are generally paid by the sender. After individual examination, the return costs may be borne by the Fotomuseum Winterthur.

You will find full information on the right of return in the Terms and Conditions.