Auschwitz 2007
A place of imprisonment, torture, and execution of innocent humans.
This is the infamous Nazi concentration camp whose purpose was the imprisonment and extermination of entire human races that took place during World War II (WWII). It is located in what is now southeast Poland (called Oświęcim in Polish), but it is very important to understand that it was not a Polish concentration camp; it was a Nazi concentration camp in occupied territory which was then Germany, whose purpose was for the imprisonment and extermination of the Polish Slavic (and Soviet Slavic) peoples. This began with primarily male political prisoners or resistance fighters, and progressed to including female and race-related prisoners. Later it was extended to also be used for exterminating Roma, Sinti, the disabled, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses and Jewish people as well (this was mainly in the Auschwitz II Birkenau camp), totalling around 1.1 million people. As a result, I will use its German name, not the Polish one. The reason for its location was that it was in an industrial area, where the prisoners could be forced to work in factories to produce munitions and other materials.
The atrocities of WWII are nothing new. There have even been incidents since them that match them. What sets them apart is the evidence. It happened in countries we now consider civilised. The records of it are well preserved. A case we are not afraid to talk about, a lesson we can use without fear of recrimination. An example of what humans as a species are capable of when propaganda is everything.
The train we had planned to take from Warszawa to Kraków was fully booked already, so we had to wait for two hours in the city centre for the next one, then over an hour in Kraków. To reach Oświęcim, we travelled deep into the bowels of the industrial area of śląsk (shlo(n)sk, aka Silesia). The landscape became covered with mining waste, the air filled with the smell of sulphur, and more and more people grew moustaches - and I'm not just talking about the men. The impressively modern train crawled along, at a typical speed of 4 miles per hour. It took 2 hours to reach its destination. Returning to Kraków, the train managed to be a little faster - perhaps 5 miles per hour.
If you want to visit, I advise a coach tour, or your own transport. You will get there sooner, and have more freedom for looking around. Considering how hard this place can hit you, it's probably best to use your own transportation, so you can stop and take a break for a while when you need to, without having to keep up with a tour party.
Important: This gallery contains some very disturbing information, and images. You will find this distressing. I want you to be able to appreciate the gallery for what it is, without finding it so distressing that you are unable to view it. Some of the information is so unpleasant that I have attempted to protect you from it until you intentionally request it. Please use your own discretion.
The entrance area, with the workshops to the left, the main accommodation blocks ahead, the kitchen block to the right, and the edge of the registration building on the far right. The first thing we noticed about the camp is just how small it is. It is in an area of the town that is so small, we were expecting it to turn out to be just a museum, not the actual place.
The kitchen blocks.
The famous gate, with the words "Work Makes You Free", presumably to pretend that a good worker will be rewarded (or to instill a feeling of satifaction at providing a service), quite different from the reality. Just inside is where the camp orchestra would play as the prisoners would leave for daily labour, or return to the camp.
The electrified fence and watchtowers that separated prisoners from freedom.
A simple message that defines the concentration camp so well; stop, or you will die. The bodies of those killed while attempting to escape were put on display here. Families of successful escapees were also made to stand here until the escapee was caught.
From outside, there are warnings to show that the fences are electrified. Inside, this was evidently not considered important.
What really caught me by surprise was the quality of the buildings. All of the films I had seen about the Holocaust concentrate on the wooden sheds of Birkenau (since they almost exclusively concentrate on Jewish peoples who were mostly imprisoned there), but the blocks in Auschwitz I are all solid brick, with heating.
The yard where roll call would be conducted to check for escaped prisoners. Upto 20'000 people were kept in the camp at any time, and roll call could last for over 12 hours. Public hangings for escape attempts or communicating with the outside also took place here.
Roll call would take place no matter what the weather. The SS officer could shelter in this tower, but the prisoners would be forced to stand outside in any conditions, for as long as it took. If that meant dying from exposure in the courtyard, then so be it. They may also die from forced labour, or the unsanitary conditions of the accommodation blocks.
The admissions building where people were sorted, and their belongings were taken from them. Sorting would mean separating women and children from the men, and the workers from the experimentation or extermination victims.
Furnace and chimneys between the accommodation blocks. There was no sign to identify its purpose, so I am afraid I do not know what it was used for.
Between the blocks.
Between the blocks.
Through the fence.
The block where (mainly Jewish) women were sent for medical experimentation.- [Show more (possibly disturbing) information]
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The execution wall and courtyard beside the experimentation block.- [Show more (possibly disturbing) information]
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The prison block (as if the camp itself was not already a prison), called the "death block", where suspects were held before and after interrogations, or simply for being a catholic priest, or Jewish man. They were then sent to forced labour, or to the execution wall.- [Show more (possibly very disturbing) information]
The medical block. The medical care was generally insufficient, and being in this block simply meant being on the last step before death. If a patient seemed unlikely to regain health on their own quickly, they were usually given lethal injections, or sent to gas chambers. Those who were well enough may also be sent to the medical experimentation block.
Out of the frying pan, and to the far end of the camp.
The camp administration buildings, outside the fence.
Beside the camp admin buildings is the site of the camp Gestapo, where beatings, torture, and murders took place as part of interrogations. After the war, the camp's first commandant, Rudolph Höß, was executed here on these gallows.
The mound beside it looks ominous and important.
And the chimney even more so. The importance of this building is evident.
The entrance. This was the first gas chamber at Auschwitz. After being replaced by those in the Birkenau site, it was converted into a shelter for the SS, but was restored as part of the museum.
The gas chamber, where many thousand people were killed with the cyanide gas produced by Zyklon B. This is what the camp is all about; suffering and extermination. What remains is this monument, the place they were imprisoned, tortured, and killed. For existing.
The furnaces used to cremate the bodies of the victims.
After a little over an hour in the camp, we had reached our limit. There is only so much of this that we could take. The second camp, Birkenau (which is closer to the main train station), has more artifacts, such as the railway lines used for transporting prisoners, the entrance archway, and the converted cattle sheds where mostly Jews were kept without sufficient protection from the elements. But we had less than an hour before closing time, and not enough time to recover from seeing the first camp. You will have to forgive me for not being able to face taking any more pictures.
The entrance area, with the workshops to the left, the main accommodation blocks ahead, the kitchen block to the right, and the edge of the registration building on the far right. The first thing we noticed about the camp is just how small it is. It is in an area of the town that is so small, we were expecting it to turn out to be just a museum, not the actual place.
The kitchen blocks.
The famous gate, with the words "Work Makes You Free", presumably to pretend that a good worker will be rewarded (or to instill a feeling of satifaction at providing a service), quite different from the reality. Just inside is where the camp orchestra would play as the prisoners would leave for daily labour, or return to the camp.
The electrified fence and watchtowers that separated prisoners from freedom.
A simple message that defines the concentration camp so well; stop, or you will die. The bodies of those killed while attempting to escape were put on display here. Families of successful escapees were also made to stand here until the escapee was caught.
From outside, there are warnings to show that the fences are electrified. Inside, this was evidently not considered important.
What really caught me by surprise was the quality of the buildings. All of the films I had seen about the Holocaust concentrate on the wooden sheds of Birkenau (since they almost exclusively concentrate on Jewish peoples who were mostly imprisoned there), but the blocks in Auschwitz I are all solid brick, with heating.
The yard where roll call would be conducted to check for escaped prisoners. Upto 20'000 people were kept in the camp at any time, and roll call could last for over 12 hours. Public hangings for escape attempts or communicating with the outside also took place here.
Roll call would take place no matter what the weather. The SS officer could shelter in this tower, but the prisoners would be forced to stand outside in any conditions, for as long as it took. If that meant dying from exposure in the courtyard, then so be it. They may also die from forced labour, or the unsanitary conditions of the accommodation blocks.
The admissions building where people were sorted, and their belongings were taken from them. Sorting would mean separating women and children from the men, and the workers from the experimentation or extermination victims.
Furnace and chimneys between the accommodation blocks. There was no sign to identify its purpose, so I am afraid I do not know what it was used for.
Between the blocks.
Between the blocks.
Through the fence.
The block where (mainly Jewish) women were sent for medical experimentation.
The execution wall and courtyard beside the experimentation block.
The prison block (as if the camp itself was not already a prison), called the "death block", where suspects were held before and after interrogations, or simply for being a catholic priest, or Jewish man. They were then sent to forced labour, or to the execution wall.
The medical block. The medical care was generally insufficient, and being in this block simply meant being on the last step before death. If a patient seemed unlikely to regain health on their own quickly, they were usually given lethal injections, or sent to gas chambers. Those who were well enough may also be sent to the medical experimentation block.
Out of the frying pan, and to the far end of the camp.
The camp administration buildings, outside the fence.
Beside the camp admin buildings is the site of the camp Gestapo, where beatings, torture, and murders took place as part of interrogations. After the war, the camp's first commandant, Rudolph Höß, was executed here on these gallows.
The mound beside it looks ominous and important.
And the chimney even more so. The importance of this building is evident.
The entrance. This was the first gas chamber at Auschwitz. After being replaced by those in the Birkenau site, it was converted into a shelter for the SS, but was restored as part of the museum.
The gas chamber, where many thousand people were killed with the cyanide gas produced by Zyklon B. This is what the camp is all about; suffering and extermination. What remains is this monument, the place they were imprisoned, tortured, and killed. For existing.
The furnaces used to cremate the bodies of the victims.