Jürgen Matthäus, a US-based German historian, has made significant strides in identifying a Nazi figure captured in a notorious Holocaust photograph. Until this spring, he directed the research department at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. He had been committed to that position since 1994. He is tireless in his quest to know the unnamed cause of death. His work is part of a larger dedicated movement to expose the stories, too often marginalized, of the victims of the Holocaust.
At its heart is a haunting photograph discovered in Berdychiv, Ukraine, that captures a mass execution. Matthäus has for years carefully built a case, using new artificial intelligence resources to assist in his process of identifying. He is already sure that he has his killer pegged. This startling discovery goes a long way in illuminating an all but forgotten historical atrocity that has been long clouded in darkness.
Matthäus is delving into Soviet-era records of indigenous communities. Shown are his efforts, in coordination with Ukrainian historian Andrii Mahaletskyi, to identify the victim pictured in the photograph. This dual approach makes visible the deep layers of history at play. It further illustrates how vital community memory is to unearthing personal narratives that time and history have hidden from view.
Matthäus’s recent book, “Gerahmte Gewalt” (Framed Violence), explores the photo albums compiled by Germans on the Eastern Front during World War II. In it, he beautifully and passionately makes the case for how vital visual documentation is to understanding the historical context of these events. He understands how frustrating it is to try to pick people out from those images. While the Nazis were careful to document each and every deportation from Western Europe, countless victims killed in the East are still nameless in death.
“The match, from everything I hear from the technical experts, is unusually high in terms of the percentage the algorithm throws out there,” said Matthäus regarding the AI’s analysis. He emphasized that the digital tools have changed the game for humanities research and purposes by broadening their reach immensely. These tools are largely applied to the processing of big data rather than for qualitative analysis.
“Digital tools in the humanities have massively increased in use, but it’s usually for the processing of mass data, not so much for qualitative analysis.” – Jürgen Matthäus
Matthäus characterizes his investigative approach, which he terms an “incremental” endeavor, as a sort of puzzle. It’s a unique project that combines old-fashioned archival research with today’s technology and community engagement. He credits volunteers from open-source journalism collective Bellingcat for having a trailblazing role in this effort.
To do that kind of killing was just part of the job, he described. It didn’t get you extra credit in these murder factories, which illustrates the grotesque banality that became widespread during the Holocaust.
Although the algorithm has produced these impressive results, Matthäus cautions that AI should never be viewed as a magic bullet. This is clearly not the silver bullet – this is one tool among many. The human factor remains key,” he stated. He knows that historical photographs bring their own complications to AI analysis. These maps can’t be easily sliced and diced into today’s data models.
“The AI experts tell me that this being a historical photo makes it more difficult to arrive at a 98 or 99.9% [accuracy].” – Jürgen Matthäus
Like every artist, Matthäus faces many challenges. He thinks that pictures like the one he’s working on should be given the same weight. They deserve to be respected equally to more well known representations of Holocaust locations such as Auschwitz. “I think this image should be just as important as the image of the gate in Auschwitz because it shows us the hands-on nature, the direct confrontation between killer and person to be killed,” he asserted.
Matthäus’s study has generated a firestorm of press in Germany. It has revealed important information regarding the date, location, and military unit depicted in the mass shooting captured in the photograph. His findings add to an important and ongoing discussion about the historical legacy created around those who engage in or support such evil.
“These mass executions in this format continued until the very last day of the German occupation in the east,” Matthäus noted, reflecting on the relentless nature of these crimes against humanity.