Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Arrival of Jews at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Arrival of Jews at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Reason: Having arrived on the ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the vast majority of those visible will be killed within hours. Of the approx 3,000,000 people killed in Nazi death camps, Crematoria II and III (visible in the background) account for around a quarter of that amount. Arguably a defining moment of the 20th century.
Articles this image appears in: Extermination camp, Rudolf Höß, Auschwitz concentration camp
Creator: Uploaded by WilliamH

Support as nominator --WilliamH (talk) 18:58, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Nomination withdrawn - see comment. WilliamH (talk) 11:25, 30 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Strong support--Mbz1 (talk) 19:01, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support per Mbz1. Good historical value, as well. Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 19:05, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Strong oppose. Can you clean this image up before you nominate it please? Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 19:21, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Please keep in mind that it's an image from 1944, and the historical value outweighs the issues with artifacts and such. Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 19:24, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - We've cleaned up every other historic image so far. What's so precious about the particular artefacts in this one? Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 19:33, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose and downsample unless someone can explain why this is PD. (I know the USHMM says so, but it needs a reason to say so.) Current tag is the pre-1923 one, which makes no sense. The USHMM says these photos were taken by SS-Hauptscharführer Bernhardt Walter and his assistant, SS-Unterscharführer Ernst Hofmann and were later found in abandoned SS barracks.[1] (Though a more comprehensive discussion of the photos' origin, which can be found here, says the photographer is unknown - see p102.) They were sold by the finder to Yad Vashem, but that doesn't make them PD. Mangostar (talk) 21:31, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Note that anonymous works, under German copyright law, enter the public domain 70 years after creation. (Or at least that's what I'm pretty sure is the law, according to a machine translation of [2].) If it's not PD now, it will be in 6 years. Mangostar (talk) 21:47, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose until it is cleaned up. Clegs (talk) 22:55, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose at present I agree with Papa Lima Whisky, this image is in need of some restoration. Specs of dirt, fading and other artifacts can be easily rectified. I would support a restored image. Capital photographer (talk) 07:53, 30 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: I believed this image was public domain at least in the United States (following a conversation I had with users in #wikimedia-commons), because the USHMM stated it was public domain. I contacted the USHMM and they said that the image is in the public domain courtesy of Yad Vashem. However, as far as I have now been able to prudently construe, as the 25 year old Germany rule was superseded, this image that would have been public domain in Germany in 1969 had its copyright reinstated in 1995. Accordingly, this means that as of January 1, 1995, the image is still copyright in America. When the USHMM says/displays it as public domain, and personally tells you it's public domain, well, I'm surprised and disappointed at how undiscerning Yad Vashem and the USHMM have been. I certainly thought that those at the helm of the USHMM photo archives would be in a better position than me to comment on issues like this. Nonetheless, thanks for everyone's constructive comments and I respectfully ask for this discussion to be closed. Regards, WilliamH (talk) 11:23, 30 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- This should be made clear and go to an IfD. If not deleted I say we continue with this FPC... (and I have no opinion on the copyright issues...) gren グレン 08:15, 31 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The image is unfortunately ineligible as a featured picture candidate because fair use images are not allowed. I will downsize it shortly though, as there is certainly legitimate fair usage and encyclopedic value in it. WilliamH (talk) 12:31, 31 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted MER-C 10:03, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]