Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau, A Sobering Walk Through History

 Auschwitz - Campaign of Hate

 

The day was grey and appropriately dark and gloomy. The town of Oswiecim and the surrounding areas which includes Auschwitz-Birkenau was commandeered by The Third Reich and the name was changed to Auschwitz. The camp was started in 1940 originally for Polish prisoners and as a means of terror to the Poles, but soon it became the death camp for many in the central European region including; Russians, Czechs, Slovaks, Gypsies, Yugoslavs, French, Austrians and Germans, were all deported to Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau only a few miles away.  It operated as a prisoner and extermination camp right up to the day the Russians moved in on January 27, 1945.

Work makes you free

There are only records of the prisoners that made it through the selection process. The selection process began after the deportees arrived at the camp and was conducted by the SS. In the beginning, many Jews and other deportees thought they were going to be settled into a new life in Eastern Europe and the Nazis actually sold them non-existent plots of land and farms. This was all part of the cruel and psychological terror of the Nazis.

In the selection process anyone under the age of 15-16 and anyone over 50 or the ill and handicapped were immediately sent to the changing rooms and then the gas chamber. There are no records of these people but it is estimated over 2.5 million people were sent to Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau (A2).

Most people, even if they survived the railroad trip, only lasted at the camp for a few weeks. Some if they were given lighter duties in the kitchen or perhaps the hospital may have lasted a few months.  Anyone who tried to escape was shot or hung in the main square as a deterrent. 

One of the look out towns and death block

After working 12 hours or more in the factories, the prisoners had to stand in the main square for roll call.  This may last several hours and many just collapsed from exhaustion and starvation.

By the numbers

Prisoners were told to put their names on their suitcases so they could be returned to them, which of course they never were. Their belongings were sorted through and the items were put in rooms called Canada. They were called Canada because the Germans SS felt Canada represented wealth. The best items were either stolen by the SS or sent to Germany.

There were several rooms with suitcases 

Over 80,000 pairs of shoes were found

Auschwitz I death chamber

About 700 people a day were murdered in the chamber. The door in the picture above leads to the changing room and the gas chamber is next to it where Cyclon B was used to gas the prisoners. If you were right under the gas you died instantly. Unfortunately, if you were away it took up to 30 minutes where you were blind and choking for breath. Then the bodies were moved to the crematoriums next to the chamber. You can see the stack in the back.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

Auschwitz-Birkenau (A2) was just a short distance from Auschwitz 1 and was developed to exterminate up to 2,000 prisoners daily, of course, mainly Jews. In 1941 SS Heinrich Himmler decided to make Auschwitz the main death camp to eradicate the Jewish population. 

After Auschwitz 1 I didn't think anything could match the cruelty, inhumanity and utter terror until I saw Auschwitz-Birkenau (A2). The massive size of this camp is truly overwhelming.  It seems to go on forever with row after row of barracks, bob wire and unfortunately gas chambers and crematories 2, 3, 4 and 5.  

Main gate to Auschwitz-Birkenau

The railway goes through the gate and right to the back of the camp to one of the four gas chambers.  The gas chambers here were underground with changing rooms and crematories. 

Tracks that lead right up to and through the gate

One small section that extends for miles and miles

There were over 100,000 prisoners at this camp during the height of the war.  By summer 1944 the Nazis decided they would just gas and cremate prisoners as soon as they arrived because the railway cars were running day and night and there weren't enough barracks.

The tracks go to the back where the gas chambers are by the trees

Over 100 people might be placed in one of these cars

Gas chamber under ground

Several prisoners to a bunk

The Nazis tried to blow up the evidence of their crimes before the Russians arrived but there are still remains of some barracks and evidence of the gas chambers, and crematories.  There is a monument between crematoria II and III with stones for each of the 22 countries that had citizens murdered at Auschwitz.

International monument to the victims of Auschwitz

In the language of the country each stone reads: