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I Noticed That Some People Don’t Know Much About The Holocaust, So I Colorized These Photos (10 Pics)
I was recently shocked to read these words in The New York Times: "For seven decades, 'never forget' has been a rallying cry of the Holocaust remembrance movement."
But a survey released Thursday, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, found that many adults lack basic knowledge of what happened; and this lack of knowledge is more pronounced among millennials, whom the survey defined as people ages 18 to 34.
Thirty-one percent of Americans and 41 percent of millennials believe that two million or fewer Jews were killed in the Holocaust; the actual number is around six million. Forty-one percent of Americans and 66 percent of millennials cannot say what Auschwitz was. And 52 percent of Americans wrongly think Hitler came to power through force.
I first started working on this historical photo project several years ago, using contemporary reference images to colorize and restore pictures from the Holocaust. I did publish the colored pictures on my Facebook and my blog, but now I realize that 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 black and white pictures colorized will help people to better empathize with the victims of the Holocaust and I hope that any artist that is interested in working with me to make more color pictures or even to improve the ones that I've colorized so far would please contact me. I am also interested in being contacted by anyone who could help me with this history 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.
More info: joachimwest.com | Instagram | patreon.com | youtube.com
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Wedding Bands Found During The Liberation Of Buchenwald Concentration Camp
Final score:
168points
RELATED:
#2
Colorized Photograph Of Anne Frank
Final score:
148points
Luke Barricks 8 years ago
Honestly, I love learning about the Holocaust. Ot is just an interesting topic for me, as I come from German decent. I don't think anyone should forget about it, and I think the people who say it didn't happen need to hit reality.
#3
Colorized Photo Of A Catholic Girl. Czesława Kwoka, 1942-43
Final score:
133points
Zoe Catherine 8 years ago
I read the story of this girl, I can't remember her name but she was very young, around 12 years old I think. The dark colour marks on her lips are blood; she was beaten by a female officer before the photo was taken because she was crying. It's so very heartbreaking.
#4
Colorized Photograph From Auschwitz Concentration Camp
Final score:
117points
#5
Colorized Photo From The Daschau Concentration Camp
Final score:
103points
#6
Poland, 1939-40
Final score:
83points
Honesty Olishia 8 years ago
She has such a beautiful face. Seeing something like this makes it seem like not so long ago.
#7
Poland, 1939-40
Final score:
76points
#9
Poland, 1939-40
Final score:
71points
PeachPossum 8 years ago
Bakery trucks bringing them bread in the ghetto. Language on the side is German, though Polish could be similar. I am so sad looking at this, their earnest faces filled with anger and worry, and the little girl in the background inexplicably happy about something.
#10
Poland, 1939-40
Final score:
69points
Add New Image
What do you think ?
GC 8 years ago
Those statistics shock me. What is even worse is that with time they are only going to get higher. I was at a Holocaust Memorial in Boston recently and was shocked at a teenager who kept saying, "What are all these names for?" The questions he kept throwing out were amazing but then I realized that at least (the very least) he was asking because the memorial was there. Never forget indeed. Lets hope there are enough people in the world who are not apathetic in the future to let it happen.
PeachPossum 8 years ago
The schools are not teaching them these things. If they do, they gloss it over and move on to more pleasant topics. The teachers are more concerned about keeping the students "happy" than teaching them hard cold facts. When I was in school, our teacher drilled this into us, we read the history, we saw the photos, we saw the films. Yes, we were shocked by it, but we remember.
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karla Meixnerová 5 years ago
And still, there are peple in my country, who compare jewish stars to vaccination (aka, that unvaccinated people are like jewish people - marked by society). Absolutely disgusting. But thanks for the photos, they are a reminder of those, who died (including a big part of my family from my mums side)
Memere 5 years ago
It's disgusting that anyone would dare to try & compare the current pandemic & the need for vaccinations to what happened in the Holocaust.
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stellermatt 8 years ago
the added colour somehow makes them more real, more relate-able, sadder, even more soul shatteringly shocking and they were always these things and more. I guess some people might be able to distance themselves from the events because of the aged black and white world it seems to have been (as apposed to the multi-colour world of today), but there's was an experience that should never be forgotten, always remembered and those lost held forever near. (hope that all makes sense)
GC 8 years ago
Those statistics shock me. What is even worse is that with time they are only going to get higher. I was at a Holocaust Memorial in Boston recently and was shocked at a teenager who kept saying, "What are all these names for?" The questions he kept throwing out were amazing but then I realized that at least (the very least) he was asking because the memorial was there. Never forget indeed. Lets hope there are enough people in the world who are not apathetic in the future to let it happen.
PeachPossum 8 years ago
The schools are not teaching them these things. If they do, they gloss it over and move on to more pleasant topics. The teachers are more concerned about keeping the students "happy" than teaching them hard cold facts. When I was in school, our teacher drilled this into us, we read the history, we saw the photos, we saw the films. Yes, we were shocked by it, but we remember.
Load More Replies... karla Meixnerová 5 years ago
And still, there are peple in my country, who compare jewish stars to vaccination (aka, that unvaccinated people are like jewish people - marked by society). Absolutely disgusting. But thanks for the photos, they are a reminder of those, who died (including a big part of my family from my mums side)
Memere 5 years ago
It's disgusting that anyone would dare to try & compare the current pandemic & the need for vaccinations to what happened in the Holocaust.
Load More Replies... stellermatt 8 years ago
the added colour somehow makes them more real, more relate-able, sadder, even more soul shatteringly shocking and they were always these things and more. I guess some people might be able to distance themselves from the events because of the aged black and white world it seems to have been (as apposed to the multi-colour world of today), but there's was an experience that should never be forgotten, always remembered and those lost held forever near. (hope that all makes sense)
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