Auschwitz, Poland, Prisoner no. 21280. The inmate ID photos were taken …, 1945 (photo)

Auschwitz, Poland, Prisoner no. 21280. The inmate ID photos were taken by the camp s Erkennungsdienst, the photographic identification unit. Most of the photos were taken by Wilhelm Brasse, an inmate of German-Polish decent with photographic training. Brasse has estimated that he took about 40, 000 to 50, 000 identity pictures from 1940 until 1945, before being forcibly moved to another concentration camp in Austria. It is estimated that around 200, 000 ID photos were taken in Auschwitz; around 40, 000 survived. There is a 52-minute Polish documentary film about Brasse s life and work, entitled The Portraitist (Portrecista, Poland, 2005).