Color photos from Nazi occupied Poland 1939-40 in Life magazine

[irisblue]

https://www.life.com/history/world-war-ii-color-photos-from-nazi-occupied-poland-1939-1940/

snip-"In the late 1930s and early 1940s, a German photographer and ardent Nazi named Hugo Jaeger enjoyed unprecedented access to the Third Reich’s upper echelon, traveling with Adolf Hitler to massive rallies and photographing him at intimate parties and in quieter, private moments. The photos made such an impression on the Führer that Hitler famously declared, upon first seeing Jaeger’s work: “The future belongs to color photography.”

But beyond merely chronicling Hitler’s ceaseless travels, Jaeger also documented the brute machinery of the Reich, including the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. Here, LIFE.com presents a series of photos from Warsaw and from the town of Kutno, 75 miles west of the Polish capital, in 1939 and 1940. Adding perspective to the images is an essay (below) by Justyna Majewska, discussing just what Jaeger’s haunting images can still tell us about that era, three-quarters of a century after they were made. Ben Cosgrove"

more there

[blue-wave]

1. Through all the pain and suffering

I could not help being struck by how so many managed to smile. A real testament to the human spirit.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. I don't think they anticipated the atrocities or inhumanity that became their fate

Today, if this happened, we would have more fear because we would know the outcome beforehand. It is all so terrifying.

[jaxexpat]

3. I became aware of this in grade school.

Always the most profound image of waking nightmare. It's inconceivable that there are Americans who deny this fact of history. Originalism out of control.

[BigmanPigman]

4. Last week I watched the real Nuremberg film

that was released many years after the trial. Hans Frank, the Nazi of Polish ghettos, was hanged for his crimes. Supposedly he was one of two Nazis who expressed any real guilt.

[mitch96]

5. These photographs hurt my soul. They don't know what is going to happen to them and millions of others...

They live on in our remembrance of their lives...
m