Looking without Seeing

Abstract The Holocaust was one of the most photographed genocides twentieth century. Since 1945, images from liberation camps were used as shaming and shocking instruments visual denazification. Many decades later, these icons are still in educational contexts such school textbooks, exhibitions, documentaries presented almost exclusively mere illustrations not independent sources. By approaching image a source, this contribution reflects on different ways looking at seeing photography. moving purely emotional illustrative approach to more integrated approach, complex dynamics underlying timeless mechanisms totalitarianism (victimization, perpetration, implication) can be better understood.