Auschwitz-Birkenau vu par Raymond Depardon

Paris Match sent Raymond Depardon to Auschwitz-Birkenau in the winter of 1979. Snow covered the ground. He worked with a tripod and slow film, photographing the site over the course of two weeks. In these images a line of barbed wire turns a corner, bunks flank a narrow aisle, and the layout of the camp is visible from the air.

The photographs appeared in the international press at the time. The Paris exhibition was the first devoted to the series. Raymond Depardon entrusted the photographs to the Mémorial de la Shoah, where they are preserved. Its exhibition archive includes an interview in which he recalls how he approached the work.

Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1979