AI Unmasks Nazi Soldier in Haunting Holocaust Photograph
One of the most chilling and visceral photographs to emerge from the Holocaust has finally revealed one of its secrets. Thanks to years of painstaking research by a historian, combined with the power of artificial intelligence, the Nazi soldier in the infamous image known as ‘The Last Jew in Vinnitsa’ has been identified.
A Decades-Old Mystery Unraveled
The photograph depicts a member of a Nazi SS death squad pointing his gun at the head of a Ukrainian Jewish man, who kneels before a mass grave already filled with bodies. The image first gained international attention in 1961 when Holocaust survivor Al Moss shared it with the United Press during the trial of high-ranking SS officer Adolf Eichmann, wanting the world to see the horrors of that era.
For decades, the photo was believed to have been taken in Vinnitsa, based on an inscription found on its reverse side. However, new research corrects this long-held belief. US-based German historian Jürgen Matthäus has dedicated years to uncovering the photo's true story. His work, published in the Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft (Journal of Historical Studies), confirms the photo was not taken in Vinnitsa, but rather 55 miles away in the citadel of Berdychiv, a city that was once a major center of Jewish life in Ukraine. He also pinpointed the date of the atrocity to June 28, 1941.
Warning: The full, graphic photograph is shown below and may be disturbing to viewers.
The Path to Identification
Matthäus’s breakthrough was the result of a combination of traditional archival research, assistance from peers, and a few lucky breaks. Reporting from The Guardian highlights that after some of the historian's initial findings were covered by German media, a crucial tip emerged. A man contacted Matthäus, stating he believed the shooter was his wife's uncle, a former French and English teacher named Jakobus Onnen.
To support this claim, the family provided photographs they still had of Onnen. The physical resemblance was striking, but Matthäus needed a more definitive method of confirmation.
Artificial Intelligence Provides a Crucial Link
This is where modern technology played a decisive role. The family photos of Onnen were analyzed using an advanced AI facial recognition system and compared against the soldier in the Holocaust image. The result was an “unusually high” match.
Matthäus explained that achieving such a high probability is more difficult with historical photos than with modern forensic work, making the AI's conclusion especially compelling. While digital tools are increasingly used in historical studies, their application for this kind of qualitative analysis is a significant development.
Lingering Questions and the Weight of History
Despite identifying the perpetrator, many questions remain. Matthäus is troubled by what might have motivated Onnen to pose so brazenly during such a horrific act. The historian speculates the pose was meant to impress his fellow soldiers, as participation in mass killings was a grimly accepted part of life in these SS units. Any personal insight was lost when Onnen’s family destroyed his letters from the Eastern Front in the 1990s.
Tragically, the identity of the Jewish victim and the photographer who captured the terrible moment remain unknown. They represent the hundreds of thousands who were murdered anonymously in Ukraine, their stories lost to history. This recent discovery, however, serves as a powerful testament to the enduring quest for truth and justice.
