One Thousand and Seventy-eight Blue Skies

One Thousand and Seventy-eight Blue Skies displays individual images of the sky photographed above every known Nazi concentration camp and killing center across Europe.

Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime used these sites for imprisonment, forced labor, and murder. They played a central role in the mass killing of groups targeted by the Nazis, including the murder of six million European Jews. These camps were among more than 42,000 places of detention controlled by the Nazis and their collaborators.  

Blue Skies invites us to reflect on the expansiveness of the camp system and the experiences that unfolded during the Holocaust under 1,078 patches of sky.

About the Photographs

Photographer Anton Kusters took these images between 2012 and 2017, traveling throughout Europe. He relied on research completed by this Museum to locate each camp. Each photograph is stamped with the GPS coordinates of its location and the number of victims who entered that camp.