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  • New Zealand Listener

    ‘I looked death in the eyes … 50,000 times’

    Mar 14, 2021 5 minutes

    Wilhelm Brasse switched on the enlarger and a bright beam of white light fell on to the sheet of photographic paper. The negative had been developed that morning by Franek, one of his colleagues, and Brasse hadn’t even glanced at it. Franek was a skilled lab technician, so Brasse was sure the negative would have the correct contrast and exposure. Brasse also knew his way around the enlarger well, having worked with it for so long, and he was sure that with this medium-density negative, a dozen or so seconds of exposure would be enough to create the print. After exactly 12 seconds he switched off the white light and the room returned to semi-darkness, illuminated only by the red safety lamp.

    His boss, SS Oberscharführer Bernhard Walter, had asked him to produce large prints,

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