
Some 1.3million people lost their lives at the Nazi German concentration camp Auschwitz - a horrendous death machine of systematic murder and torture in occupied Poland.

A small percentage of those who walked through the gates were immortalized by fellow inmates, ordered to take their photos as part of a project by Auschwitz-Birkenau officials to 'document' the prisoners of the death camp.

Now, more than 75 years later, Artist Marina Amaral has painstakingly colourised their portraits, bringing to life their stories through her photo series Faces of Auschwitz.

The photos include the haunting face of a Jewish man days before his death, a young Jehovah's Witness imprisoned for her faith, the first female prisoner to escape Auschwitz - and survive - and a 14-year-old Polish girl beaten up for not speaking German.

More than 1.1 million of those who died in Auschwitz were Jewish, but thousands were Polish political prisoners, homosexuals or other ethnic or religious minorities

‹ Slide me › Heroine: Janina Nowak, 24, from Łódź, arrived in Auschwitz on June 12, 1942. Twelve days later, she became the first female prisoner to escape, when she ran away from a work party sent outside the camp walls. SS guards had been sent out to try to track her down, but they failed, and the 24-year-old Pole made it back to her home town where she successfully hid from the Nazis for nine months, until March, 1943, when she was captured and brought back to Auschwitz by authorities. Miss Nowak was soon transferred to Ravensbrück, an all-female concentration camp in northern Germany, 56 miles north of Berlin. She survived her incarceration, and was liberated at the end of April 1945 by the Soviet Red Army

Prisoner: It is not clear why Miss Nowak, a Polish woman from a town 140 miles from the Nazi concentration camp, is sent to Auschwitz, but she is registered as part a group transport which arrived in June, 1942

Brave: The colourisation is carried out after meticulous research by Miss Amaral, which has found the likely colour of Miss Nowak's eyes to have been blue and her hair to have been blonde

Janina Nowak

Janina Nowak, from Będów near Łódź, was 24 years old when she arrived at the German Nazi camp on June 12, 1942. Twelve days later, she became the first female prisoner to escape Auschwitz, running away from a work party sent outside the camp, and the guards failed to catch her. She was able to make it all the way to her home town of Łódz where she successfully hid from the Nazis until March, 1943.

She was captured and brought back to Auschwitz, before being transferred to Ravensbrück, and all-female concentration camp in northern Germany, 56 miles north of Berlin, where she stayed until liberation at the end of April 1945 by the Soviet Red Army.

‹ Slide me › 'Political prisoner': Czesława Kwoka, 14, was deported from Zamość, southeastern Poland in December 1942, along with her mother, to make room for a German colony that the Nazis were building. The photographs, taken by a fellow inmate at Auschwitz show the teenager on the verge of tears, her bottom lip sporting a cut. Shortly before they were taken, she had been beaten up by a female prison guard because she did not understand what the guard was shouting in German. Miss Kwoka died in March 1943, just three months after arriving at Auschwitz, weeks after her mother Katarzyna

Young victim: The teenager was taken along with her mother, and her defiant stare into the camera after being assaulted by a guard is even more haunting in colour

Young life lost: The teenager, seen here looking off camera in her prisoner's uniform with a red 'P' triangle stitched onto the chest, died in the camp within three months

Czesława Kwoka

Czesława Kwoka, 14, was deported from her home in Zamość, southeastern Poland in December 1942, along with her mother, to make room for a German colony, and branded 'political prisoners' - seen on her prisoner's uniform which has a red triangle with a 'P'.

The photographs show her on the verge of tears, her bottom lip sporting a cut, as hortly before the photos were taken, she had been beaten up by a female prison guard for not understanding orders being barked at her in German.

Miss Kwoka died in March 1943, just three months after arriving at Auschwitz, weeks after her mother Katarzyna.

‹ Slide me › Murdered Witness: Deliana Rademakers, a 21-year-old Jehovah's Witness from the Netherlands, was arrested while preaching her faith door-to-door, and deported to Auschwitz in November, 1942. In a final letter to her family and congregation she wrote; 'go bravely onwards without fear, Jehovah is with us, what can (mere) people do to us?' According to her death certificate, Deliana died in Auschwitz on 10 December, 1942 - less than three weeks after her arrival.

Lest we forget: The colourised images bring out the details of the haunting images, such as the hacked shaving of her hair

Killed for her faith: Mere weeks after this photograph of the young Dutchwoman was taken, she was dead

Deliana Rademakers

Jehovah's Witness Deliana Rademakers from the Netherlands, was 21 when she was deported to Auschwitz in November, 1942, having been arrested going door to door to preach her faith.

In a final letter to her family and congregation she wrote; 'go bravely onwards without fear, Jehovah is with us, what can (mere) people do to us?' According to her death certificate, Ms Rademakers died in Auschwitz on 10 December, 1942 - less than three weeks after her arrival.

Hundreds of Jehovah's Witnesses died in Auschwitz as their faith prevented them from serving in the army, carrying out work supporting the war effort, or praising the Nazi leader with 'Heil Hitler' - crimes punishable by imprisonment or death.

‹ Slide me › Holocaust victim: Salomon Honig, a Jewish man from Jasło, southeastern Poland was deported to Auschwitz on March 5, 1942, along with a group of 27 Polish Jews some time before the mass exterminations in gas chambers began. Less than two weeks later, on March 18, he died, aged 52, with the Nazis claiming his cause of death was a stroke. This was likely a lie as the SS camp chiefs would usually try to hide the true reasons for the deaths in the concentration camp.

One of millions: The heartbreaking images of the 52-year-old merchant, detained by the Nazis for his faith, is one of several colourised by the Brazilian artist for the Faces of Auschwitz project

Hitler's final solution: Dressed in the striped prisoner's uniform with a white and red Star of David, Mr Honig has less than two weeks to live when this photograph was taken

Salomon Honig

Salomon Honig, a Jewish man from Jasło, southeastern Poland was deported to Auschwitz on March 5, 1942 along with a group of 27 Polish Jews some time before the mass exterminations in gas chambers began.

Less than two weeks later, on March 18, he died, aged 52, with the Nazis claiming his cause of death was a stroke. However, as Ms Amaral notes, this was likely a lie as the SS camp chiefs would usually try to hide the true reasons for the deaths in the concentration camp.