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HARROWING colourised images of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp have emerged which expose the full horror of the Holocaust.

The original black and white pictures were taken by a German photographer billeted to Auschwitz-Birkenau in southern Poland.

Jewish inmates are forced by SS officers into two queues — one destined for the gas chambers
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Jewish inmates are forced by SS officers into two queues — one destined for the gas chambers
Two boys arrive at the death camp after being sent on a train from their homes
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Two boys arrive at the death camp after being sent on a train from their homes
Two boys arrive at the death camp after being sent on a train from their homes
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Two Orthodox Jewish men at the camp where 1.1 million people died

For scores of Jewish families these chilling images serve as the only known record of who arrived at the Nazis’ most notorious extermination camp.

It was here between 1940 and 1945 that 1.1 million people were murdered, starved to death or died of avoidable disease. 

Ahead of the forthcoming Channel 4 documentary,, which commemorates the 75th anniversary of the camp’s liberation — 37 of the photographs have been recast in colour for the first time.

They evoke the horror of Holocaust for a new generation.

In the documentary, Holocaust survivor Judith Altmann, 95, who was arrested in 1944 and taken from her home in Czechoslovakia to Auschwitz, said: “I’ve seen it and I cannot erase it from my mind. We were wearing colours. We were not all in grey.”

The photo album containing 193 photographs over 56 pages was discovered by another survivor, Lilly Jacob.

Mrs Jacob was 18 when the Nazis came to her small town of Bilke in Hungary.

Along with her family, she was sent to a ghetto in the Carpathian Mountains where she had to sleep on the floor of a brick factory. They were later put on a train to Auschwitz. 

She survived after being moved to Mittelbau-Dora camp in Germany, where the inmates were forced to help make V-2 rocket missiles which were used against the United Kingdom.

It was there she discovered the album while searching through cupboards looking for clothes to keep warm in the freezing conditions.

While looking through the pages she spotted two of her brothers - Israel, 8, and ten-year-old Zelig.

Years later she said: "I recognised a picture of the rabbi who married my parents. And as I was leafing through, I recognised my grandparents, my cousin, even myself."

  • Auschwitz Untold: In Colour airs Sunday 26th and Monday 27th January at 9pm on More4, followed by a 90-minute special Wednesday 29th January at 10:30pm on Channel 4
 A group of Jewish women selected for slave labour, with the discarded belongings of those sent straight to their deaths piled up in the background
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A group of Jewish women selected for slave labour, with the discarded belongings of those sent straight to their deaths piled up in the backgroundCredit: Channel 4
Newly colourised images of Auschwitz 75 years ago reveal full horror of the Nazis' most notorious concentration camp
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Newly colourised images of Auschwitz 75 years ago reveal full horror of the Nazis' most notorious concentration campCredit: (Channel 4 images must not be altered or manipulated in any way) Channel 4 Picture Public
 German guards await the shuttered transport trains at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp
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German guards await the shuttered transport trains at the concentration camp
Lilly Jacob with the photo album she discovered in Mittelbau-Dora camp.
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Lilly Jacob with the photo album she discovered in Mittelbau-Dora campCredit: Getty Images
Shaven-headed Lilly Jacob (centre)
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Shaven-headed Lilly Jacob (centre)
The camp has been preserved as a reminder of the nightmare which unfolded there and elsewhere
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The camp has been preserved as a reminder of the nightmare which unfolded there and elsewhereCredit: AFP or licensors
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