Christoph Rehage's video: SUN AND SNOW IN AUSCHWITZ Timelapse

I took this footage during a three day trip in 2015 to the biggest concentration/extermination camp that we, the Germans, had built in WW2. Some of it is slomo captured by phone, some of it is DSLR time-lapse. I made some of the shots run backwards. It just felt right that way. While I was standing there, in front of the gate of Auschwitz-Birkenau, taking my photographs, a man appeared and asked me what I was doing. Photographing, I told him. What for, he asked, for business? I didn't know how to answer, so I told him it was for a project. Actually it wasn't. Standing in front of these things for a long time, carefully taking pictures of them, just seemed like a good way to deal with it all. "Where are you from?" I asked him. "Israel", he said. I just stood there. "And you?" he asked me. "Germany", I said. We both looked away from each other, divided and united in awkwardness, and I decided to make a joke. "I'm one of the bad guys", I said, hoping he'd understand that I was making fun of myself, not of him. "Oh", he said. We continued to stand there. "Do you know why I'm here?" he finally asked. I didn't know. He looked at me as if he was waiting for an answer, and I heard myself fumbling for words: "All of us are here looking for something, I mean, you're here looking for something, I'm here looking for something..." Then I fell silent. I knew it was bullshit. He apparently knew, too. "I'm here", he said, "because Hitler didn't succeed. He wanted to wipe us out, but we're still here. I'm here to say FUCK YOU to all of this!" He raised his fist towards the gate of Auschwitz-Birkenau, extending his middle-finger. One million or more had perished behind that gate. He knew very well why he was here. We shook hands, then he left. I turned around to my camera: it was still doing what it had been doing. The Polish sky was beautiful, low clouds rolling across the horizon. And suddenly I knew what it was I had wanted to say to him. Of course I couldn't claim to really understand why he was here. But at least I could have given him a no-bullshit answer as to why I had come. I was here because I didn't want to forget. Drop by on my site: ▶ http://www.crehage.com or add me on FB: ▶ https://facebook.com/crehage on TW: ▶ https://twitter.com/crehage INFO: ▶Shot with DSLR 15mm, mobile phone 240fps ▶Soundtrack: RelaxSound - "Cello Sorrow" If you have any ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS, please refer to: ▶▶▶ http://crehage.com/faq or get the GOOGLE EARTH FILE here (1KB): ▶ http://www.thelongredline.com/TLW.kmz CONNECT WITH ME: ▶OFFICIAL SITE: http://crehage.com ▶FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/crehage ▶TWITTER: https://twitter.com/crehage ▶WEIBO: https://weibo.com/leikexiaoliumang ▶▶▶SUBSCRIBE to Christoph Rehage: http://bit.ly/1BcQ6Ol REISEERZÄHLUNG "THE LONGEST WAY" (PIPER/MALIK) ERHÄLTLICH: ▶Amazon: http://amzn.to/177iCpG ▶Hugendubel: http://bit.ly/1rJj5rc ▶Thalia: http://bit.ly/14hoJXr BILDBAND "CHINA ZU FUSS" (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC) ERHÄLTLICH: ▶Amazon: http://amzn.to/1xAd7ve ▶Hugendubel: http://bit.ly/1zZqcP4 ▶Thalia: http://bit.ly/1BqvYWR