Oswiecim, Poland – Inside Auschwitz

I imagine this will be the hardest post I will ever make on this blog but feel it’s a must and equally important to all those who may never have the opportunity to experience a day here. To those that have never visited Oswiecim, its home to Auschwitz, the largest concentration and extermination camp that was run by the Nazis during the second world war and had claimed more lives than any other concentration camp during the war with estimates of the deaths here around 1.5 million. The lives that were claimed were mainly Jews but included prisoners of war, gypsies, and many others. They were pulled from all over Europe from countries that included Italy, France, Russia, Hungary, Germany, Poland and many others. This post is about my experience inside Auschwitz.

Entrance to Auschwitz with the words: Arbeit Macht Frei – “Work Makes Free”

I really couldn’t bring myself to take many photos throughout the day I spent here and to be honest, I really didn’t need to. The images of what I had seen and experienced are forever frozen in my mind but I did want to take a few photos just to help document this post. Just give you an idea of some of the things I decided not to photo were the belongings of over 40,000 victims that included hair, glasses and shoes that were removed from them before being murdered as well as the empty gas cans that contained Zyklon-B, the gas used by the Nazis in their pursuit to exterminate European Jews.

Auschwitz

Auschwitz was actually split into 3 separate camps. Auschwitz I was the base camp where administration took place and was the original camp that was set up. It is estimated about 70,000 died in this camp. In the years that followed the war, two other camps were opened. Monowitz, which was used as a labor camp and Birkenau, set up as an extermination camp, where an estimated 1.4 million were murdered.

Demolished Gas Chamber at Birkenau – The Nazis made efforts to destroy any evidence as best they could before the camp was liberated

Another of the chambers that was destroyed

Photos above are two of four gas chambers that were demolished days before the Soviets liberated the camp. It is estimated they were killing as many as 20,000 people in under 20 minutes within the chambers.

View of the right side of Birkenau taken from the entrance atop the tower overlooking the camp. The Nazis destroyed many of the bunkers which you can still see the chimneys standing but some bunkers remained. (Click for larger view)

One of the things that hit me hardest was our tour guide. She had been giving tours at Auschwitz twice a day nearly every day for years and would still get choked up in her descriptions of what took place here. You would think one would become desensitized after years but it is the passion she had for this place in educating others and paying her respects to those that were murdered that had so much impact on me.

Guard tower at Birkenau

I had actually been to Dachau Concentration Camp outside of Munich, Germany many years ago but this place was very different and had much more of an impact based on what I had experienced and seen while there. Even though it was  bright sunny day when I was here, it was very eerie to walk around the place, especially at the Birkenau extermination camp.

Along the tracks running into Birkenau

Auschwitz was liberated on January 27th 1945 by Soviet troops but thousands of those still remaining in the camps died in the days and weeks that followed from disease and starvation. It was said their organs had shrunk to a 1/4 of the size from starvation and were too far gone that to attempt recovery.

One of the remaining wagons used for deportation into the camp at Birkenau. Where I am standing in this photo is where SS officers separated the men from the women and children coming off the train. It was here where they would take one look at you and ‘decide’ whether you were fit for work. If you were sent to the right, you would go to the labor camp. If you were sent to the left, you would be immediately sent to the gas chambers. Less than 20% were sent to the right.

One of the roads you would take if you were ‘sent to the right’ for labor. Most would die within 3 months after being used for labor as a result of harsh conditions such as starvation, disease and torture.

Even though the Auschwitz museum gets over 1.3 million visitors a year, I realize many people will never get the chance to experience this place first hand so its important to always remember the injustices and crimes against humanity so that we will never forget nor repeat history.

This message was portrayed on similar stones lying next to it in over 20 different languages