Auschwitz Birkenau - German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945)

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we arrived in the afternoon at the German Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz II. It was an experience like nothing else, to see the gas chambers and crematoriums first hand. The thought that over 1.5 million people were murdered here (90% being Jews) was unimaginable, its like half the population of Greater Vancouver just gone.

Basically I took lots of pictures of what I saw, and so they sort of tell the story. Be sure to see all the pics, as there are 42 of them and you need to skip to the next page to continue viewing them.



Now some details and history of the camp...

Beginning in 1940, Nazi Germany built several concentration camps and an extermination camp in the area, which at the time was under German occupation. The Auschwitz camps were a major element in the perpetration of the Holocaust.


The three main camps were:

Auschwitz I - the original concentration camp which served as the administrative center for the whole complex, and was the site of the deaths of roughly 70,000 people, mostly Poles and Soviet prisoners of war.

Auschwitz II (Birkenau) - an extermination camp, where at least 1.1 million Jews, 75,000 Poles, and some 19,000 Roma (Gypsies) were killed.

Auschwitz III (Monowitz) - which served as a labor camp.


Auschwitz I, contained many forms of punishment such as standing cells where 4 inmates would be crowded into a 1.5 meter square cell and could ony stand there. Other cells included dark cells which would eventually suffocate the prisoner and starvation cells (the name explains itself). Auschwitz I, killed many prisoners by cruel punishment, firing squads and hangings. Later a highly lethal cyanide gas named "Zyklon B" was tested. The tests were deemed successful, and a gas chamber and crematorium were constructed by converting a bunker.

This began the mass extermination and so the Auschwitz II (Birkenau) camp was constructed with four such gas chambers and crematoriums for killing and destroying the bodies. Jewish women, children, old and sick men were all sent immediately to the gas chambers upon arrival off the train. Men able to work were worked until they usually died from malnutrition. Over 20,000 prisoners could be killed in one day alone.

Its also interesting to note that denying Holocaust in Poland can give you up to 3 years in prison, apparently there is a similar law in Germany.

For more information check out Wikipedia on Auschwitz.

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Photos

International Memorial (English)
In about 12 different languages, the english one reads:
"For ever 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"
-Auschwitz II

Auschwitz I
The gate into Auschwitz I. The sign reads: "Work Makes Free"... meaning, "work will set one free".
-Auschwitz I

Gaurd Towers
Stretching for miles and miles around the perimeter and within the camp.
-Auschwitz II

Pond of Ashes
To the memory of the men, women, and children who fell victim to the Nazi genocide. Here lie their ashes. May their souls rest in peace.
-Auschwitz II

Main Entrance
The main entrance into Auschwitz II.

From The Front Entrance
A panoramic shot aiming into the camp of Auschwitz II from the front entrance.

New Arrivals
New arrivals are seperated into men fit to work; and the sick, the old, the women and children who were all to be sent to the gas chambers.
-Auschwitz II

French Memorial
A memorial plaque dedicated to the French prisoners murdered at Auschwitz II.

Sleeping Quaters
The sleeping barracks for the prisoners.
-Auschwitz II

Roses
Throughout the whole camp lay roses, flowers and candles in memory of the victims of Auschwitz II.

Washroom
Sinks within the sleeping barracks at Auschwitz II.

Old and Sick
This barrack was used for the isolation of sick prisoners or others at the end of their endurance and thus considered as unfit for further work. Here they would remain until sent off to be murdered in the gas chambers.
- Auschwitz II

Death Row
This row of barracks along the outside edges of the camp housed women awaiting the gas chambers.
There were many more of these.
- Auschwitz II

Toilets
The inside of the womens' death row barracks. No sleeping room, just toilets.
-Auschwitz II

Sewage Treatment
The sewage treatment plant that was filling up very quickly from the over 90,000 inmates the camp was holding at any one time.
-Auschwitz II

Collapsed Crematorium
Here a crematorium has been destroyed via dynamite by the Nazi Germans weeks before the end of the war to hide their doings.
-Auschwitz II

Gas Chamber
The entrance to one of the four underground gas chambers. Victims would walk through here, strip and shower. Later gas pellets of Cyanide would be dropped through small openings above ground.
-Auschwitz II

International Memorial
Dedicated to all the victims.
-Auschwitz II

Railway
This section of railway was added mid war time from the main railway outside the camp. It led straight to the back of the camp, where the gas chambers were located. Victims could be gassed within minutes of departing the train. In the distance is the main entrance.
-Auschwitz II

Straight to the Chambers
A group of Jewish woman and children selected for immediate extermination.
-Auschwitz II

Gas Chamber and Crematorium III
The third of four such buildings. All four could exterminate up to 20,000 victims a day. Near the end of the war it was dismantled and destroyed to hide the atrocities committed at Auschwitz II.