Witamy w Polska! Part 2

Oświęcim ~ Auschwitz 

Almost everyone knows about the Holocaust and the (Auschwitz) concentration camp(s). 

Auschwitz concentration camp was a network of concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was the largest of the German concentration camps, consisting of Auschwitz I (the Stammlager or base camp); Auschwitz II–Birkenau (the Vernichtungslager or extermination camp); Auschwitz III–Monowitz, also known as Buna–Monowitz (a labor camp); and 45 satellite camps.

Auschwitz had for a long time been a German name for Oświęcim, the town by and around which the camps were located; the name "Auschwitz" was made the official name again by the Germans after they invaded Poland in September 1939. 

In 1947, Poland founded a museum on the site of Auschwitz I and II, which by 2010 had seen 29 million visitors—1,300,000 annually—pass through the iron gates crowned with the infamous motto, Arbeit macht frei.

When we first pulled up to the camp, it seemed out of place. I mean there was a strip mall built across from it, complete with a fast food joint. When you get to the museum entrance, the unsettling feeling sets in. You start to feel heavy with despair and depression of all who had passed through the camp. It was unnerving. 

The camp is free to enter and walk through, however you must pay for a tour guide or just a map of the grounds. Sadly we arrived too late to have an english tour, so we just bought a map and headed for the blocks that were closing within an hour or so.

Arbeit Macht Frei

Work Makes (you) Free

The camp orchestra had to assemble here to play
marches while the prisoners filed past. This was
to help them keep in step and made it easier to
count them as they went to and from work.

Booth where the SS man responsible for conducting the roll-call
and collecting reports on the number of prisoners took shelter during
inclement weather.

One of the country memorials

What a hospital ward room might have looked like

A photo of all the pairs of glasses they collected

An urn with many victims' ashes.

Cans which contained Cyclone B used
for killing in the gas chambers

Cyclone B pellets

The next few "blocks" or buildings we walked through were hard to take in. It was the personal belongings the SS collected from the prisoners when they first arrived. Everything was sorted and put in piles. These piles pull on your heart strings. 

I could only take one photo of this room because I just couldn't bring myself to take in what I was looking at or think of taking another photo of the rest of it. Believe it or not, this room was piles of hair. This photo is only showing one wall, there was another on the other side, and another wall showing what they did with it, spun it into wool.

 The next room was filled with all the empty luggage and baskets, etc.
Most had the person's name and information on them. Which only made it worse to look at.

 This room was of all the shoes. All sizes.

 After the shoe room was a small room, that overlooked a room (that looked very deep, maybe 8-10feet at least) that was filled with all the pots, pans, plates, china, every kind of cooking ware. Another small window showed all the pairs of glasses, and also photos of the (2 story) rooms they found completely stacked to the ceiling of the clothes. Again, it was getting hard to take in, so I forgot all about my camera.
The next room we entered was filled with brushes, both for hair, teeth, and facial ones. And a small case showing creams and lotions.

It felt really good to leave that building and breathe "fresh" air again. But we still had a few more buildings to go through. These ones were all about prisoner life in the camps, and the living conditions of the blocks.

Before they installed toilets, they had 2 stalls outside the building, which were not much better than just a hole in the ground.

Here is a picture of the interior of a washroom from 1941 to 1945. Before they were installed, prisoners had only two wells outside the barracks where they could wash. They really treated them inhumanely, I would say like cattle, but even that seems harsh for animals.

Block Master’s Room. Some prisoners were picked by the SS to act as supervisors. They were given better living conditions, but at a terrible price. They had to punish and force their prisoners to do unthinkable tasks. It was a hard job, but didn’t last long since the SS would soon “dispose” of them and pick a new prisoner to take over. 

Living conditions of the average prisoners. They would have roughly 2-3 people on each bed.

Living conditions in the early years...

Old wooden barracks building

The living and sanitary conditions at Auschwitz II - Birkenau were extremely difficult. About 300 primitive wood or brick barracks were used to accommodate prisoners. The barracks were constructed on swampy terrain on the site of the Birkenau village whose entire population had been expelled before in the first stage of the expansion of the camp. (1941-1942) Brick barracks were constructed with the building materials from seven demolished villages that were situated in the camp vicinity. Later (1942-1944) wooden barracks of the "horse-stable" type were built, these barracks, originally intended for 52 horses, were filled with more than 400 prisoners apiece. 

In another building, it showed what they slept on. In the early years of the camp, they slept on hay or straw. Soon they were given these straw-filled mattresses. 

In the morning they had to gather them all up and arrange them in the corner of the room.

In one of the blocks we were able to go down and see the prison cells.

As if being trapped in this camp wasn't harsh enough, one of their type of cells was unbelievable.

Standing Cells. Prisoners were confined there four or so at a time had to stand in them for several or more than a dozen nights. They had to stay in there overnight and then work during the day. Many usually died in consequence of suffocation and exhaustion. 

At Auschwitz 1 the Gestapo building was demolished and on its site was built a gallows on which Standartenführer SS Rudolf Höss was hanged on April 17, 1947 for numerous war crimes.

The last thing we saw at the camp was one of the infamous Gas Chambers. You must be silent inside for respect of all that had died there. It's not hard to follow that rule, because you cannot even think of words while inside there. For me I tried to picture it, and came up short. It's unbelievable.

The "shower" room

Interior of the crematorium of Auschwitz I.
This facility was much smaller than those of Auschwitz II.

My photos didn't turn out, but here are other photos of the Execution Wall between block 10 and 11.

If you are ever near the Kraków area and have some extra time, I highly recommend going to Auschwitz. It's a big part of our World's history, whether we like to accept it or not. It happened and it is still there. 

Please continue to Part III for the rest of my trip in Poland...it should cheer you back up.