This post contains photos and descriptions that you may find distressing.
Like yesterday’s visit to the salt mine, I’d booked my ticket for Auschwitz about a week ago. It’s popular.
I took a train to Oswiecim then walked the remaining 25 minutes to the former Nazi concentration camp. I was able to use my interrail pass for the train journey.
Work sets you free
The tour begins at the Main Gate, where the sign “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work sets you free”) hangs. This is a replica of the original sign at the entrance of Auschwitz.
We are one of many tour groups, each conducted in a different language.
Purpose built
In the early stages of World War II (1940/41), the Germans used Auschwitz (and other camps) to house political prisoners, including Poles. Many of the early deaths were (non-Jewish) Poles. Later, after declaring war on the Soviet Union in 1941, the Nazi policy shifted, for Jews, from internment to extermination. Birkenau (aka Auschwitz II) was purpose built as a holding and extermination camp. It was several times larger than Auschwitz. A bus took us from Auschwitz to Birkenau.
Cattle trucks brought people (mostly Jews) to Birkenau from Poland and other European countries, including Hungary and France. After initial “cleaning”, many people were sent straight to the gas chambers. Others were worked to death, producing goods for German companies.
Even after it was obvious that the Germans had lost the war, people were still being sent to the gas chambers. The two main gas chambers in Birkenau were destroyed by the fleeing Nazis in an attempt to hide their actions.
Walking the grounds, you sense the camp was designed to enable the efficient mass killing of people.
Belongings
We saw many blocks in Auschwitz. Each revealed, or hinted at, a specific horror. There are photos of new arrivals being inspected, unaware they’d soon be gassed to death. We also saw some of the remains: shoes (adult and children), glasses, prosthetic limbs, and suitcases.
People were asked to tie shoelaces together so that they could identify their shoes later after being “washed”. We also saw piles of human hair, some of which was sent to companies to weave cloth and ropes.
Death Block
Whilst most mass killings were in Birkenau, many people were killed in Block 11, known as the “Death Block”. Here, in this small courtyard, thousands of people were killed. Some were political prisoners (perhaps part of the resistance movement), others broke camp rules. People were lined up in front of the Wall of Death and shot. Some were sentenced to death through starvation. Zyklon B gas was used in the basement of the Death Block. The dosages being initially unknown meant that some people died over several days.
Experiments
In another block, a German gynaecologist conducted sterilisation experiments on woman, mostly Jews. Some died during the experiments. Others were killed so that they could be autopsied.
Numbers
Nothing can convey the horrors people experienced. The numbers tell us how many people ended up in Auschwitz-Birkenau:
- 1.1 million Jews
- 140,000 Poles
- 23,000 Roma
- 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war
- 25,000 prisoners from other ethnic groups.
About 1.1 million people died here in the gas chambers. Jews made up 90% of deaths.
Reflection
Auschwitzh-Birkenau is moving. Although much of the damning evidence was destroyed by Nazis towards the end of the war, the buildings on the two sites are the original ones.
The museum/memorial is probably as respectful as it can be. However, it has become a victim of its success. As our group went around, there were other groups in front of and behind us. There is little time to pause and think about the enormity of what happened.
The tour guides work at the site and are knowledgeable about its history. Our guide had met some Holocaust survivors. He was solemn but brought to life the things the buildings and artefacts couldn’t reveal.
A few days later, I met an Irish couple from Cork. They had four daughters. One was with them. When each daughter was old enough, they’d bring her to Poland to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. Two had come already. Now it was the time for the third daughter. The father told me that it’s important that future generations don’t forget what happened during that dark period of human history.