Hello! I posted recently in the New Members section asking if a report on Auschwitz would be welcome here - it isn't technically abandoned, but I thought that it may be of interest to some people here, and the answer was yes, so here it is! I went to Auschwitz I, the main camp, and Auschwitz-Birkenau, for a college history trip back in April 2017. We spent 3 days in Kraków altogether, and it truly is a beautiful city. Alongside the Auschwitz complex, we visited the Kraków ghetto and the memorial of the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp. Many of the buildings in the ghetto, established in March 1941 and segregated from the rest of the city by a stone wall, are decayed to varying degrees. Strap yourselves in, this is going to be a long one.
The Kraków-Płaszów camp memorial
The history of Auschwitz
Located in the town of Oświęcim, approximately 30 miles west of Kraków, Auschwitz began as brick barracks. It was converted into a concentration camp in the spring of 1940, and the town of Oświęcim became Auschwitz, until its liberation by Soviet troops in January 1945. SS-Obersturmbannführer Rudolf Höss oversaw the construction of the camp, with its original intention to hold political prisoners. Its first mass transport in June 1940 consisted of Polish male political prisoners, and the first experimental gassings occurred in August 1941, following the construction of Crematorium I, which was in use from August 1940 to July 1943. The first group to be gassed consisted of Soviet prisoners of war, whilst the second contained both Soviet POWs and Polish prisoners.
The main gate in use
While there is no agreed date as to when the Nazis advanced with the Final Solution (I personally believe that it was driven forward by Operation Barbarossa in June 1941), mass transports of Jews to Auschwitz I began towards the end of 1941. Following this, Himmler commanded the camp’s expansion, and the construction of Auschwitz II – Birkenau began in October 1941. It opened in March 1942, and its first gas chamber became operational within the same month. Similarly to Auschwitz I, its intention was to hold POWs, but throughout the war, it became a central place of extermination for the Jewish population. Prisoners living in Birkenau were forced to live in conditions that caused many of them to die of starvation, exhaustion, or hypothermia.
A third sub-camp, Auschwitz III (otherwise known as Monowitz) was constructed in October 1942 as a forced labour camp for prisoners from Auschwitz, producing rubber and Zyklon-B (the chemical used in the gas chambers in the main camps). Monowitz is several miles away from the main two camps, and whilst some of the structures are still there, many of the original buildings have since been destroyed.
Monowitz in use
Living conditions in the camps were poor. Prisoners slept on straw-filled mattresses, and sanitary conditions meant that epidemics erupted frequently throughout the camps. Prisoners were publicly flogged, hung from posts, confined in standing cells, beaten, hanged, starved, and shot – aside from being sent to the gas chambers. Another well-known occurrence at Auschwitz is medical experiments, with prisoners being exposed to diseases and toxic substances to study the effects. However, Dr. Josef Mengele is easily the most recognisable doctor of Auschwitz. Known as the Angel of Death, he used prisoners (mostly twins) of Auschwitz to perform his experiments. He subjected many Romani and Jewish twins to x-rays, hearing and sight tests, blood transfusions, surgery, before eventually killing and dissecting them. It has been said that medical experiments at Auschwitz claimed over 400,000 victims.
In 1944, towards the end of the war, it was suggested that the Allies should bomb Auschwitz-Birkenau: however, this was never undertaken. The last mass transports arriving in Auschwitz came in October 1944, and consisted of roughly 60,000-70,000 Jews from the Łódź Ghetto, and around 10,000 combined from Theresienstadt and Slovakia. In November 1944, Himmler ordered the mass gassings to stop, and ordered that the gas chambers and crematoria in Auschwitz be destroyed. In January 1945, the camps were evacuated, and were sent west on foot, to concentration camps in Germany and Austria e.g. Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, Mauthausen, Sachsenhausen, etc. These death marches claimed the lives of most of the Jews; approximately 58,000 Jews left Auschwitz on the marches, but only 15,000 made it to Bergen-Belsen, which was subsequently liberated by the British in April 1945. Monowitz was the first camp to be liberated by the Soviets in January 1945, and Auschwitz I and II followed a few hours later. It is said that the Auschwitz camp complex claimed the lives of at least 1.1 million people; mainly Jews, Poles, Roma, and Soviet POWs.
The visit
Auschwitz I
It was the morning of the 20th of April 2017, and it was freezing. It was raining and windy, although the grim weather kind of matched the general tone of both camps. We began in Auschwitz I, heading through security before going through the well-recognised main gate.
"Work sets you free" - this slogan is seen at many different concentration camps, including Dachau, Sachsenhausen, and Theresienstadt. This isn't the original sign - it's a replica, as the original sign was stolen back in 2009, and after its return was placed in storage for protection.
The security at Auschwitz is understandably intense. It’s like going through airport security: you get searched, you turn out your bags onto a tray which goes through a metal detector. It makes sense. Our tour guide lead us through all the different barracks, where various documentaries were playing, and through the camp.
Some (not all) of the photos are in black and white, purely because I deemed it appropriate. We understandably weren’t allowed to take pictures in some areas – for example, Crematorium I, in which we also weren’t allowed to speak. There were some other places which I also felt it would be inappropriate to take pictures in – for example, the claustrophobic underground standing cells, which our group had to almost squish through because the passageway was so thin. In all honesty, it made me feel sick.
The gallows from which Rudolf Höss, commandant of Auschwitz and member of the SS, was hanged in April 1947.
Old empty canisters of Zyklon-B
The room of shoes taken from victims. The room also contains eyeglasses, suitcases, prisoner's uniforms, and piles of hair which were removed from female prisoners and used to make wigs. This room is truly as disturbing as it looks.
'The Book of Names - The names of the murdered are inscribed in this book as an eternal memorial.' This book fills an entire room.
A hall of memorial photos
An original chunk of the wall known as the 'Death Wall'. Most of this wall was destroyed, but a piece of it was preserved for visitors to place flowers on. Many prisoners were shot against this wall.
One of the rooms containing wooden beds in one of the barracks
Auschwitz II-Birkenau
After having lunch in the coach, we moved onto the second camp: Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Birkenau is much bigger than Auschwitz I - the first camp covers 20 hectares, whilst Birkenau covers 171 hectares - and is mostly outside as opposed to in barracks.
The main entrance through which trains filled with prisoners would enter Birkenau - they would either be processed and logged, or sent straight to the gas chamber
As with Auschwitz I, there were some areas where I truly didn't feel comfortable taking pictures. Birkenau made me very uneasy for the most part (and rightfully so). Whilst you're there, you're very overly aware of what happened there - if that makes sense. One of the first places we visited in Birkenau was a wooden barrack; these barracks stretch all the way out into a wooded area, by the Pond of Ashes. There are brick barracks at Birkenau, but many of the barracks are wooden, and as such, provide little shelter from the elements.
A brick barrack at Birkenau
A rose placed on one of the beds in the brick barrack
Next, we moved onto the ruins of Crematorium III. Towards the end of the war, when the evacuations began, the Nazi authorities ordered the demolition of the crematoriums in November 1944. In January 1945, the SS blew up whatever was left; the same applied to Crematorium II and V. Crematorium IV, however, which lies not too far away behind the trees, had a different fate: in October 1944, the Sonderkommando (units of prisoners forced to aid with the mass gassings) rebelled against the SS, using gunpowder smuggled in by Jewish women. Although the revolt was suppressed by SS guards, the crematorium was blown up by the rebels.
A train car used to transport prisoners sitting on the railway tracks; approximately 80 people would be transported in one of these
After this, we moved onto one of the final areas of the tour: a memorial in ‘die zentrale Sauna’, a building used to disinfect prisoners and remove their clothing. In this room is a double-sided wall of personal photos found on prisoners in the camp.
At the end of the tour, we headed over to the Pond of Ashes. Prisoners who were gassed at Crematorium VI had their ashes dumped into the pond; hence the name. The ashes of thousands of victims were disposed of in this pond, and several memorials stand around the pond.
As part of the tour, we did a ceremony at the end in which we were silent for a few minutes, and placed candles and rocks on top of the memorial stones; the Jewish tradition of leaving stones instead of flowers on a gravestone is often because stones last longer than flowers. A stone is intended to preserve a legacy.
'Forever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe. Auschwitz-Birkenau 1940-1945.'
Thanks for reading, I know it's a bit of a difficult and heavy one to get through. If anyone wants to see any of the pictures that I couldn't fit into one post, let me know and I can post them!
The Kraków-Płaszów camp memorial
The history of Auschwitz
Located in the town of Oświęcim, approximately 30 miles west of Kraków, Auschwitz began as brick barracks. It was converted into a concentration camp in the spring of 1940, and the town of Oświęcim became Auschwitz, until its liberation by Soviet troops in January 1945. SS-Obersturmbannführer Rudolf Höss oversaw the construction of the camp, with its original intention to hold political prisoners. Its first mass transport in June 1940 consisted of Polish male political prisoners, and the first experimental gassings occurred in August 1941, following the construction of Crematorium I, which was in use from August 1940 to July 1943. The first group to be gassed consisted of Soviet prisoners of war, whilst the second contained both Soviet POWs and Polish prisoners.
The main gate in use
While there is no agreed date as to when the Nazis advanced with the Final Solution (I personally believe that it was driven forward by Operation Barbarossa in June 1941), mass transports of Jews to Auschwitz I began towards the end of 1941. Following this, Himmler commanded the camp’s expansion, and the construction of Auschwitz II – Birkenau began in October 1941. It opened in March 1942, and its first gas chamber became operational within the same month. Similarly to Auschwitz I, its intention was to hold POWs, but throughout the war, it became a central place of extermination for the Jewish population. Prisoners living in Birkenau were forced to live in conditions that caused many of them to die of starvation, exhaustion, or hypothermia.
A third sub-camp, Auschwitz III (otherwise known as Monowitz) was constructed in October 1942 as a forced labour camp for prisoners from Auschwitz, producing rubber and Zyklon-B (the chemical used in the gas chambers in the main camps). Monowitz is several miles away from the main two camps, and whilst some of the structures are still there, many of the original buildings have since been destroyed.
Monowitz in use
Living conditions in the camps were poor. Prisoners slept on straw-filled mattresses, and sanitary conditions meant that epidemics erupted frequently throughout the camps. Prisoners were publicly flogged, hung from posts, confined in standing cells, beaten, hanged, starved, and shot – aside from being sent to the gas chambers. Another well-known occurrence at Auschwitz is medical experiments, with prisoners being exposed to diseases and toxic substances to study the effects. However, Dr. Josef Mengele is easily the most recognisable doctor of Auschwitz. Known as the Angel of Death, he used prisoners (mostly twins) of Auschwitz to perform his experiments. He subjected many Romani and Jewish twins to x-rays, hearing and sight tests, blood transfusions, surgery, before eventually killing and dissecting them. It has been said that medical experiments at Auschwitz claimed over 400,000 victims.
In 1944, towards the end of the war, it was suggested that the Allies should bomb Auschwitz-Birkenau: however, this was never undertaken. The last mass transports arriving in Auschwitz came in October 1944, and consisted of roughly 60,000-70,000 Jews from the Łódź Ghetto, and around 10,000 combined from Theresienstadt and Slovakia. In November 1944, Himmler ordered the mass gassings to stop, and ordered that the gas chambers and crematoria in Auschwitz be destroyed. In January 1945, the camps were evacuated, and were sent west on foot, to concentration camps in Germany and Austria e.g. Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, Mauthausen, Sachsenhausen, etc. These death marches claimed the lives of most of the Jews; approximately 58,000 Jews left Auschwitz on the marches, but only 15,000 made it to Bergen-Belsen, which was subsequently liberated by the British in April 1945. Monowitz was the first camp to be liberated by the Soviets in January 1945, and Auschwitz I and II followed a few hours later. It is said that the Auschwitz camp complex claimed the lives of at least 1.1 million people; mainly Jews, Poles, Roma, and Soviet POWs.
The visit
Auschwitz I
It was the morning of the 20th of April 2017, and it was freezing. It was raining and windy, although the grim weather kind of matched the general tone of both camps. We began in Auschwitz I, heading through security before going through the well-recognised main gate.
"Work sets you free" - this slogan is seen at many different concentration camps, including Dachau, Sachsenhausen, and Theresienstadt. This isn't the original sign - it's a replica, as the original sign was stolen back in 2009, and after its return was placed in storage for protection.
The security at Auschwitz is understandably intense. It’s like going through airport security: you get searched, you turn out your bags onto a tray which goes through a metal detector. It makes sense. Our tour guide lead us through all the different barracks, where various documentaries were playing, and through the camp.
Some (not all) of the photos are in black and white, purely because I deemed it appropriate. We understandably weren’t allowed to take pictures in some areas – for example, Crematorium I, in which we also weren’t allowed to speak. There were some other places which I also felt it would be inappropriate to take pictures in – for example, the claustrophobic underground standing cells, which our group had to almost squish through because the passageway was so thin. In all honesty, it made me feel sick.
The gallows from which Rudolf Höss, commandant of Auschwitz and member of the SS, was hanged in April 1947.
Old empty canisters of Zyklon-B
The room of shoes taken from victims. The room also contains eyeglasses, suitcases, prisoner's uniforms, and piles of hair which were removed from female prisoners and used to make wigs. This room is truly as disturbing as it looks.
'The Book of Names - The names of the murdered are inscribed in this book as an eternal memorial.' This book fills an entire room.
A hall of memorial photos
An original chunk of the wall known as the 'Death Wall'. Most of this wall was destroyed, but a piece of it was preserved for visitors to place flowers on. Many prisoners were shot against this wall.
One of the rooms containing wooden beds in one of the barracks
Auschwitz II-Birkenau
After having lunch in the coach, we moved onto the second camp: Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Birkenau is much bigger than Auschwitz I - the first camp covers 20 hectares, whilst Birkenau covers 171 hectares - and is mostly outside as opposed to in barracks.
The main entrance through which trains filled with prisoners would enter Birkenau - they would either be processed and logged, or sent straight to the gas chamber
As with Auschwitz I, there were some areas where I truly didn't feel comfortable taking pictures. Birkenau made me very uneasy for the most part (and rightfully so). Whilst you're there, you're very overly aware of what happened there - if that makes sense. One of the first places we visited in Birkenau was a wooden barrack; these barracks stretch all the way out into a wooded area, by the Pond of Ashes. There are brick barracks at Birkenau, but many of the barracks are wooden, and as such, provide little shelter from the elements.
A brick barrack at Birkenau
A rose placed on one of the beds in the brick barrack
Next, we moved onto the ruins of Crematorium III. Towards the end of the war, when the evacuations began, the Nazi authorities ordered the demolition of the crematoriums in November 1944. In January 1945, the SS blew up whatever was left; the same applied to Crematorium II and V. Crematorium IV, however, which lies not too far away behind the trees, had a different fate: in October 1944, the Sonderkommando (units of prisoners forced to aid with the mass gassings) rebelled against the SS, using gunpowder smuggled in by Jewish women. Although the revolt was suppressed by SS guards, the crematorium was blown up by the rebels.
A train car used to transport prisoners sitting on the railway tracks; approximately 80 people would be transported in one of these
After this, we moved onto one of the final areas of the tour: a memorial in ‘die zentrale Sauna’, a building used to disinfect prisoners and remove their clothing. In this room is a double-sided wall of personal photos found on prisoners in the camp.
At the end of the tour, we headed over to the Pond of Ashes. Prisoners who were gassed at Crematorium VI had their ashes dumped into the pond; hence the name. The ashes of thousands of victims were disposed of in this pond, and several memorials stand around the pond.
As part of the tour, we did a ceremony at the end in which we were silent for a few minutes, and placed candles and rocks on top of the memorial stones; the Jewish tradition of leaving stones instead of flowers on a gravestone is often because stones last longer than flowers. A stone is intended to preserve a legacy.
'Forever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe. Auschwitz-Birkenau 1940-1945.'
