From Booklist
In 279 chilly, gray photographs taken at 25 different Nazi concentration camps, Reinartz successfully portrays the very purpose--death--of these horrific places. In the photographs, no figure intrudes on the stark emptiness and brutal orderliness of the camps' architecture. The photographs are carefully composed, and their tonal range deliberately compressed, so that there is no brightness in them, only shades of gray. Nor is there any shred of sentiment, only emptiness and silence. In his text, Krockow contrasts the truth of the pictures and the superficial, "amusement park" ambience that greets actual visitors to the camps today. He meditates as well on the failings of the human mind that allowed the power to kill to go unchecked. Disturbing photographs, thoughtful text. Gretchen Garner
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German
Original Language: German
