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AI Identifies Nazi Executioner in Historic Photo Reveal

10/16/2025

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Summary

Story summary

German historian Jürgen Matthäus used artificial intelligence to identify Jakobus Onnen as a Nazi executioner.
The image shows Onnen aiming a pistol at a Jewish man near a mass grave in Berdychiv, Ukraine, on July 28, 1941.
Onnen joined the Nazi Party in 1931 and was killed in 1943.
Matthäus says AI played a crucial role.
Matthäus aims to identify the kneeling victim using Soviet-era records and possibly AI.

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Story summary

German historian Jürgen Matthäus used artificial intelligence to identify Jakobus Onnen as a Nazi executioner.
The image shows Onnen aiming a pistol at a Jewish man near a mass grave in Berdychiv, Ukraine, on July 28, 1941.
Onnen joined the Nazi Party in 1931 and was killed in 1943.
Matthäus says AI played a crucial role.
Matthäus aims to identify the kneeling victim using Soviet-era records and possibly AI.