The four paintings (Abstrakte Bilder 937/1-4) from 2014, 260 x 200 cm, are known as the Ausschwitz Cycle. They are based on four photographs, which prisoners took of an execution in Birkenau concentration camp in 1944 and which have preoccupied Richter for years.

In the first exhibition of the pictures, in the Albertinum in Dresden, Richter hung a photographic reproduction in its original size opposite the abstract pictures. Making photos of details of works that are important to him has been a working method of Richter’s for years.

This book arose as a consequence of the artist’s engagement with the Ausschwitz Cycle. He photographed numerous details and laid these out on tables in his atelier. Richter then chose 93 photos, in a process that lasted several weeks, which he arranged, cut as full pages, as single or double pages.

The flow and dramaturgy of this book, Birkenau were created following his personal choices rather than a specific concept.