Auschwitz and Birkenhau

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We booked our day trip to Auschwitz-Birkenhau concentration camps via the information centre in Krakow. It cost 90 zloty (45 NZD) for a 6hour trip including the bus trip and an English speaking guide. Travellers beware: Other tour companies quoted up to 300 zloty for a tour so an information centre is a must!

We took the afternoon tour to Auschwitz, for two reasons I believe we made the right choice. Firstly, school trips go in the morning; secondly, the sunset photos do make some interesting photo opportunities.

What I did not initially realise is that Auschwitz and Birkenhau are two separate camps which are approx 4km apart. Auschwitz was a former Polish military camp, so upon arriving you are dumb struck at how 'nice' the camp looks, with brick barrack rooms, trees and paved footpaths. However then you notice the barbed wire, downlights, watch towers, and warning signs with skull and crossbones. The barrack rooms have been reconstructed for exhibition purposes, and no longer carry beds etc. The exhibitions depict the totality of the human destruction that occurred in this place, incriminating documents, mountains of human hair, suitcases, shoes, glasses, chemical canisters, and walls and walls of photographs. How people can claim that the Holocaust was a conspiracy theory is ridiculous.

We also went to block 11, the infamous block where cruel medical experiments by Dr Mengele were conducted. It is a daunting place and remains unchanged from those times. We also saw the execution wall where hundreds of people were shot and the gas chambers. The gas chamber at Auschwitz is truly a horrible place, it is strangely very cold inside.

We then took the bus to Birkenhau, where a lot of the movie 'Schindler's List' was shot. The camp is huge, it covers almost 40 acres. A lot of the camp is unpreserved, the Polish dismantled the barracks as they needed the materials to rebuild their country. However, 2 barracks remain, one contains a sanitary block the other contains bunk beds. Birkenhau once had 3 gas large chambers, the Nazi destroyed 2 of them before the Allied liberation, the prisoners destroyed the last one after the Nazis fled. There is also a large monument at this site.
This was a great tour, the guide was very good and everything was very delicately managed in order to hold the utmost respect to those who died. Photos were permitted outside the Auschwitz camp and throughout the Birkenhau camp. I was mortified by other members on my tour (in particular Italians), who repeatedly continued to smoke throughout the camp despite the signs and being told not too, others did not dress appropriately or behave appropriately.

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Comments

[Eric]

I enjoyed your Poland post. You have some powerful shots there. My blog is looking for travel photos. If you have the time, email us some at [e-mail] or check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com. Continued fun on your travels, Eric