6 July Auschwitz-Birkenau

We traveled to Oświęcim today,  a town that in 1939 had 7000 Jews; most perished in WWII.  It is also the site of the largest Concentration and Death Camps of WWII, known as Auschwitz-Birkenau. 

When we lived in Krakow, I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau 4 times. Kevin went 6 times. It was a dreary place that smelled of bituminous coal burning--I never saw the sun shine there. The exhibits were sad and shabby. The biggest crowd we ever saw there was ours when we went with the 1988-89

Fulbright Scholars in Poland. We also saw a Polish school group once. 

Today Auschwitz-Birkenau was packed. There are new buildings and installations, ready for big crowds as there was on this Saturday.

 We all had ear phones so that we could hear Marcelina as she toured us around.

Information boards were helpful.

A map showing the smaller Auschwitz I and the larger Auschwitz II-Birkenau--there were over 40 other sub camps, such as Auschwitz III. All cluster around the Polish town, Oświęcim. The map shows how much smaller Auschwitz I is than Birkenau.

Auschwitz was established in 1940 by the Nazis as a labor camp for political prisoners. Local residents were evicted and local Jews laid the foundation. The main gate, as in other Nazi concentration camps announces "Work Will Make you Free."

These drawings by an inmate show the prisoners going out the gate as slave labor and coming back, carrying their dead, killed by the exhausting labor.

The orchestra played to keep prisoners marching in step.

The Barracks or Blocks, all numbered, hold exhibits now.

Maps show where the prisoners came from.

And boards give statistics;

Our friend Ramon tells of visiting Auschwitz in yhe 1970s. The one worker selling souvenir books about Auschwitz pulled up his sleeve to show Ramon his Auschwitz tattoo.

The photographs are horrific, showing the grief, fear, and confusion of innocent people.

There is a replica of a train car that brought prisoners the camp;

And a replica of the Crematorium II;

Stolen eye glasses;

And prisoners' prostheses;

Suit cases with names. When we were here before, we saw one with  "A. Frank," but we never knew if it was Anne's. It is no longer displayed.

Toys and children's clothing;

And prisoners' photographs;

A Teacher,

And this is one I have kept in my mind all these years. I looked for it and found it easily as it is the only one with a small smile;

And I remembered this small apron with the hearts;

I wondered about the stylish woman who would have worn these shoes;

An artist's rendering of the looting that took place.

We passed the block where medical experiments took place.

The twins in this photograph are Eva and Miram Moses. They survived Mengele's twin experiments.

Some remembrance was taking place this day.

Inside Block 11 awful things took place. The basement is where the first gassing using Zyklon took place. And later Crematorium I was built for The Final Solution.

We walked past the gallows where Rudolph Höss who ran Auschwitz and oversaw the killing that went on. He wrote to his wife that he was "the greatest of all destroyers of human beings." I read this in a review of a new book, Hanns and Rudolph: The True Story of the German Jew Who Tracked Down and Caught the Kommandant of Auschwitz by Thomas Harding. Harding, the grand nephew of Hanns Alexander who tracked down Höss, tells the stories of both men.

We walked around Crematorium I.

oOo

It is just very sobering to see this place.

Auschwitz was liberated in 27 January 1945 by the Soviets. That day is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.