Auschwitz Erkennungsdienst-Auschwitz Identification service.

The Nazis at Auschwitz were determined with documenting prisoners. They also kept records of their experiments and war crimes. That is how arrogant they were, they did think that they would be held accountable and that all these records would be used against them.

The Politische Abteilung Erkennungsdienst -“Political Department Identification Service”-in Auschwitz was a kommando of SS officers and prisoners who photographed camp events, visiting dignitaries, and building works on behalf of the camp’s commandant, Rudolf Höss.

One function of the Erkennungsdienst was to take three photographs of each newly registered prisoner, unregistered prisoners were gassed on arrival, and to create prisoner identification papers with fingerprints. These details were circulated to the police in the event of an escape. If a prisoner died as a result of an escape attempt or suicide, the Erkennungsdienst took photographs of the body, which were added to the prisoner’s file and forwarded to…