Researching the horrors of Auschwitz set this photographer on a hunt for his lost family history. Philip Key reports

Following up the clues, Guy rang a Liverpool Rabbi to ask for his views. "Tell me all you know, leaving nothing out," he advised.
 
Guy told how his grandmother not only hated Nazis but always denied being German. "Stop right there, "the Rabbi is said to have remarked. "She must have been Jewish. All German Jews denied being German."
 
It was another clue to his Jewish ancestry.
 
For Guy, this was a curiosity. "It had never occurred to me that I had some Jewish blood," he says. "I was brought up as a Christian and it never crossed my mind."
 
Even so, for some reason, he had always been interested in the Auschwitz story. He went with his camera to capture what he hoped would be different images.
 
One difference is that he would be photographing in colour. When he was at the Auschwitz museum he was told that many Jewish organisations in Europe insisted that it should only be pictured in black and white, the reason unknown. But even those at the museum thought colour pictures would be good.
 
He was given total access, although the museum insisted that sales of photographs taken at the site should include a 10% commission to the museum. Guy was happy to agree.
 
Having taken pictures in early February, he returned in November.
 
He was "intrigued" by Auschwitz but admits he was also moved emotionally with many aspects. He photographed piles of the victims' shoes and wicker baskets. "Each of these things represented a single person," he says. "It was very disturbing."
 
Today the camp has also become a tourist draw and Guy was surprised to find many of the visitors were teenagers on school trips. He also learned that one holiday company did day aircraft trips to the location from the UK.