Poland. January. It’s cold and it rains. Raindrops slide down my coat, they don't go through but the sensation of moisture and ice penetrates and persists inside me. Inside anyone who sees what I see right now.

 

Everybody knows what happened in Germany between the years 1930/1940. We all have heard words like Third Reich, Auschwitz, gas chambers… But I think nobody can realize how this happened there until they see it with their own eyes.

 

These pictures are Auschwitz, the real Auschwitz. Maybe they are not spectacular pics of a beautiful landscape. Maybe they are not the typical pictures a person can take, but they are for me the best photos I’ve ever taken. Because at the very right moment I took them, I was deciding I wanted to be a photographer. But not a studio photographer. I wanted to be a social documentary photographer.

 

People have to see these things. Because this is the reality, maybe an uncomfortable reality, but all these things happened, and some of them still happen.

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Text by: Mireia Vilanova Amat