Aerial Photographs of Auschwitz

May 31, 1944

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Click on photo to enlarge was taken by taken by the 60 Photo-reconnaissance Squadron of the South African Air Force operating from southern Italy on 31/5/1944 for bombing intelligence purposes. The photoreconnaissance plane was actually looking for the nearby IG Farben war production factory and other war production facilities in the area. The photo material of this sortie was shared with the US 15^th Air Force, which later bombed the IG Farben factory. Two CIA researchers reinterpreted the photo in 1978, and they inserted the captions and arrows on the photo. The arrows are pointing at several groups of inmates inside the camp. Also visible are several railcars next to the ramp. Smoke billowing from the chimney of crematorium V indicates that people were exterminated in the gas chamber beneath it shortly before.