May 14: Auschwitz & Birkenau

I really do not know of a good way to introduce this post. When we were planning our trip to Prague and Cracow, I have to admit that coming to visit Auschwitz was one of the things that I was looking most forward to while in Cracow. But it seems grossly inappropriate to say that. To mention that visiting Aushwitz was the highlight of visiting Cracow also seems to be a very poor choice of words. So perhaps I should just say that Auschwitz will be the one thing from our trip that has left the deepest and most impressionable mark on me. I was certainly not happy to visit such a place, but its impact made it well worth the visit. It is not a place I want to return to, but it is a place that I think everybody needs to visit in their lifetime. It is too important not to.

There is no exact figure has to how many people were killed in Auschwitz and the neighboring Birkenau camp but it is estimated that 1.5 million were killed in these two camps. Auschwitz was the original camp originally designed to house and incarcerate Polish political prisoners. Mass arrests of Poles at this time had their existing prisons overflowing.

So many Poles were arrested because the Nazi's needed to eliminate the people they regarded as dangerous, undesirable, and unneeded (the intelligentsia). The Polish political, cultural, and social elite, along with people suspected of organising a resistance were arrested in mass.

We start our day in Auschwitz.


The entrace gate has the phrase "Arbeit Macht Frei" written above it which translates to "Work makes you free." Despite the slogan, labor was used to break the people down in the camp and was never intended as a means for them to attain their freedom. Murderous labor was a key contributor to the high death rate among prisoners.


Jennie getting ready to start the tour. The organized tours were excellent because they used the headphone system. There were so many people there, speaking so many different languages, that this certainly made things manageable.


Our tour group in Auschwitz. Auschwitz opened in 1940 on the site of former Polish Army Barracks.

The SS adapted the Polish Army Barracks as their concentration camp, surrounding it with an electrical fence. The building in the background is where the poison used in the gas chambers, Zyklon B, was stored.

The "Wall of Death" located adjacent to Block 11 (building on right). Block 11 is where the prisoners of the camp were held. Here they were 'tried' for their crimes, which meant that the SS only had to verify that they had the right person as, usually, the death sentence was already written on the documents before the trial even started. Death was by a firing squad against this wall. The hooks on the right poles is where a bin was kept to put the dead bodies in.

If not sentenced to death by firing squad, the prisoner would die eventually by being placed in a starvation cell, a suffocation cell, or in a standing cell in the Block 11 building. The standing cell was no bigger than 2-3 phone booths where up to 4 people were placed at a time for 12 days or so. The entrance to the cell was like a dog door that had to be crawled through.

Block 10 (building on left above) was a hospital. This was not a hospital as we know it. Instead it was a place where they performed human medical experiments, including infertility testing on women.

Prisoners were also publically hanged during roll-call infront of the camp kitchen.

Roll Call Square is where roll call occured up to 3 times a day, which could last for hours at a time. Increasing numbers of prisoners forced them to eventually take roll call infront of the individual barracks.

This is the first gas chamber and crematoria, which began operation in 1941. Small holes in the roof allowed the SS to drop pellets of the crystallized poison (Zyklon B) into the chambers. It would take 20 minutes until everyone was dead. It was not until later gas chambers were constructed at Birkenau that they added shower heads to the gas chamber.

The first gas chamber (above) was eventually discontinued and converted to a bomb bunker for the SS. It was discontinued because it was too close to camp (notice the camp buildings on the right). The SS did not want the screaming and noises that could be heard during the 20 minutes of death to be heard in camp.

Auschwitz II - Birkenau

Birkenau is many times larger than Auschwitz containing over 300 single-story barracks. It opened in 1942 just 3 km's away from the original Auschwitz camp in the village of Brzezinka. The residents of this village were evicted to make way for the camp. Birkenau was used primarily for execution. Here the Jews were immediately executed upon arrival. Sometimes so many people were arriving so close to each other that they had to wait until the gas chambers were empty before offloading the next shipment. Note the 3 off-loading tracks below.

The gas chambers and crematoria were situated at the end of these tracks on the horizon. These were destroyed by the SS in an effort to remove evidence of their crimes.

Hell's Gate/Gate of Death. By 1944 so many people were arriving to the camp that the rail line was extended into the camp through this gate.

The prisoners were allowed to use the latrine twice a day, located in separate buildings. There was often lines and fighting outside the latrines for place - the ones worst off were those suffering from diarrhea. Befouling the ground outside the latrine meant horrible punishment.

Jennie listening to our tour guide.

The barracks were meant to be horse stables for 52 horses. Instead they housed up to 500-600 people. The beds were stacked 3 high, with 2 people assigned to each bed.

The interior of a reconstructed wooden barrack. Although there is the appearance of ovens and a heating these were not used.

There is so much more to say about this day but I think it is best saved for internal reflection and thought.