Artist Colors Black and White Photos Showing Holocaust Atrocities to Help People Better Understand What Happened
More than 40% of Americans and 66% of millennials cannot say what Auschwitz was.
Many people lack basic awareness of what happened to Jews during WWII, according to a survey issued on Holocaust Remembrance Day. This lack of knowledge is more pronounced among millennials, defined in the study as individuals aged 18 to 34.
Thirty-one percent of Americans and 41% of millennials believe that the Holocaust resulted in the deaths of two million or fewer Jews; the actual number is roughly six million. Additionally, 41% of Americans, including 66% of millennials, have no idea what Auschwitz was. Furthermore, 52% of Americans incorrectly believe that Hitler came to power through force.
One artist wanted to raise awareness. His name is Joachim West, a first-generation American of Spanish-Jewish descent. He was born in Connecticut in 1985 and currently resides in Galveston, Texas.
He decided to colorize old WWII photos that depict the horrors of the Holocaust to bring them closer to us. Unfortunately, black and white photos can create a sense of distance. We tend to view them as ancient history, even though they occurred just 80 years ago. In fact, if you ask your grandparents, they will tell you all about it because it happened in their time.
"I first started working on this historical photo project several years ago, using contemporary reference images to colorize and restore pictures from the Holocaust," West says.
1. Poland, 1939-40
Joachim West2. Colorized Photograph from Auschwitz Concentration Camp
Joachim West3. Colorized Photo from the Dachau Concentration Camp
Joachim West
4. Colorized Photograph of Anne Frank
Joachim West
"I did publish the colored pictures on my Facebook and my blog, but now I realize that wasn't nearly enough, so I worked on the picture restoration a bit more, and I'm publishing them again here. It seems to me that colorized black and white pictures will help people better empathize with the victims of the Holocaust, and I hope that any artist interested in working with me to create more color pictures or even to improve the ones that I've colorized so far will please contact me.I am also interested in being contacted by anyone who could help me with this historical picture project in general. This project is not for profit, but feel free to follow me on my Facebook, Instagram, Patreon, or YouTube, or check out my webpage," the artist stated.
5. Poland, 1939-40
Joachim West
6. Poland, 1939-40
Joachim West
7. Wedding Bands Found During the Liberation of Buchenwald Concentration Camp
Joachim West
8. Colorized Photo of a Catholic Girl: Czesława Kwoka, 1942-43
Joachim West
9. Poland, 1939-40
Joachim West
10. Poland, 1939-40
Joachim West
Because some people believe the Holocaust never happened, historical authenticity is highly essential to West. He believes that these colorized images are even more faithful to reality than the black and white photos, as humans do not see the world in black and white.
After all, the world is in full color in our eyes. He made a significant effort to collect and examine as many source images as possible, and because the concentration camps and many of the uniforms and patches still survive, he was able to sample the colors directly from current reference photographs.
Some people may ask why we should bring up something that happened so long ago. Well, it is so that it wouldn't happen again.
