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Published: January 5th 2008
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December 18
Note: Please use your judgment when sharing this blog with children.
I was up early on Tuesday morning for a quick breakfast and a search for a bus. I decided that it would be easier to ask at Tourist Information than search by myself. They turned out to be very helpful and I caught the very next bus which took us right to the Visitor's Center at Auschwitz I. After the two hour bus ride, I made my way into the Visitor's Center and decided to take the guided tour, which was provided in English, and see the film Auschwitz, Oswiecim, also in English. The film, while not presenting too much information of which I was not already aware, was interesting and told about what had happened to some inmates of the camp who were victims of Dr. Mengele's experiments. My tour group was pretty small and contained a family from Minnesota! Small world! Our tour guide, Agnes, was very good. The tour started in front of the gates that bare the words Arbeit Macht Frie. It was through these gates that prisoners entered the camp for the first time and those that had to work outside the camp
had to enter and exit through the gates daily. The camp orchestra was set up right on the inside of the gates in front of the Mess Hall and played marches. The prisoners leaving or coming in from work were supposed to keep in step and keep up with the music which was very difficult after working anywhere from 8 to 14 hours. The grounds of the camp are very respected and no changes have been allowed except for a monument built in Auschwitz II, Auschwitz-Birkenau. There is no eating or drinking allowed on the grounds and pictures in the buildings is also forbidden.
The camp was first established in 1940 and was used for Polish prisoners, especially male students who were willing to fight against Germany. Many of them who tried to get to France to join the army were arrested at the border and brought to Auschwitz. In the area around the camp, people were forbidden to live. Those that lived in towns and farms near the camp were relocated. The camp was situated between two rivers which effectively cut it off from the rest of Poland; the site was also chosen because of the railway connections that
later allowed prisoners from as far away as Athens or Oslo to be brought in. The camp was built by the prisoners who lived there. Each block, kind of what we would think of as a dorm building, housed 1000 inmates, and for those thousand men - women were not yet allowed at the camp - there was only one room of toilets and sinks. Inmates slept at least two to a bunk. In 1941, when Germany went to war with Russia, the camp became international for the first time as Russian prisoners from the front were brought in. Political prisoners were also housed at Auschwitz I in Block 11 where, aside from being cut off from the rest of camp, they were tortured. It was in Block 11 that Cyclone B was first tested before it was used for mass executions. Many political prisoners were executed between Blocks 10 and 11. This yard was separated from the rest of the camp by high walls and boarded up windows of Block 10. Prisoners who tried to escape were publicly executed by hanging in front of the roll call area. Roll call was held twice a day and could last for
hours, this took place between Blocks 16 and 17.
Inside the blocks are now displays on prisoners from different parts of Europe, which we did not cover in our tour, and the possessions of the prisoners, which we did see, are also on display. When the camp was functional, the possessions that the prisoners brought with them were taken when they arrived and stored in warehouses named Canada I and Canada II. Canada II was burned to the ground in the final days of the camp to hide the evidence of what was done. It took 5 days for Canada II to burn. The possessions in Canada I, however, survived. Along with eyeglasses, over 44,000 pairs of shoes, children's clothing, and 2 tons of hair, shorn from the prisoners' heads to be used in the German textile industry, was on display. In the hallways were pictures of the inmates that were taken when they arrived at Auschwitz. The pictures had the name, country or origin, date of arrival, and date of death printed on the bottom. One of the men was only alive in the camp for 5 days. Replicas of the cattle cars that prisoners were transported in and
crematorium were also set up in one of the blocks. The first crematorium was also located at Auschwitz I and was first only used to cremate the dead, but was later used as a gas chamber for mass execution.
Auschwitz-Birkenau, or Auschwitz II, was built totally by prisoners a few miles away from Auschwitz I. The second camp took up 1 square mile. There was an Auschwitz III which was industrial and inmates were made to work there. There were two different types of barracks at Birkenau - brick and wooden. The Jewish and Gypsy inmates lived in unheated, wooden barracks. Chimenys were built on these barracks but were only for looks in case the camp was inspected by outsiders. Each barrack contained bunks stacked 3 high, and at least 2, if not 3, people shared bunks. For every 2000 people, there was one building half toilets and half wash stations. Inmates were only allowed to used the toilets 2 times a day. It was also at Birkenau that Dr. Mengele performed his infamous experiments on twins, among others. His labratory was set up very near the Gypsy encampment because he mainly used Gypsy children in his experiments. The other
Roll Call
The space between Blocks 16 and 17 where Roll Call was held twice daily 4 creamatoriums were located here, but all were destroyed. In 1944, the inmates who loaded the dead into the creamatorium revolted and destroyed gas chamber and creamatorium 4 before the revolt was put down. The other creamatoriums were destroyed by the Nazis to hide the evidence of what took place at the camp. A memorial, the only change that has been made to the grounds now stands where once a creamatorium stood.
Being at such a place was moving - I don't know if I can actually describe it. I can say that it was cold; I was wearing about three layers and I was still cold. When I think that the people who lived in the camp were wearing much less than I was, I am amazed that they managed to keep on surviving and going when so maltreated. The strength of the human spirit and will to live amazes me.
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