Today was an emotional day. Fitting, maybe, that it fell on our Thanksgiving Monday, as it was a day that kept us mindful of all the things we have to be thankful for. Today we went to Auschwitz.
Auschwitz was a place we were both familiar with from our schooling, the epicenter of the incarceration and the murder of the jews in Europe, orchestrated by the Nazi regime. The textbooks do not really do justice to the horrific conditions that eventually took the lives of 1.1 million people at this site, 90% of them Jews.
The site is divided over three concentration camps. The first and oldest, Auschwitz I, was originally a Polish army barracks. When Poland was occupied by the Nazis, this site became the first concentration camp in the area and was the destination for many Polish 'undesirables', these being the social leaders and the educated within Poland; anyone who would think to stand up against the Nazi occupation of Poland was sent to this camp. In 1941, the camp was expanded and the first experimentation of using poisonous gas to perform mass murder was done in the basements of one of the site's buildings. This paved the way for the gas chambers and incinerators that were ultimately constructed here and at the larger Auschwitz II camp, Birkenau.
Auschwitz I and II are now a museum dedicated to preserving the memory and the lesson of the Holocaust. The tour begins at the gate into Auschwitz I under a sign reading "Arbeit macht frei", or "Work will set you free", a motto used by the SS to instill false hope within the prisoners that if they worked hard they may be released. However, there was another saying that SS officers began using later, which was basically, "The only escape is through the incinerator's chimney".
*Note that the B in the sign was welded on upside down by the prison workers, as an act of defiance
*First steps under the gate, looking along the electric fences
Several of the buildings house exhibits detailing different aspects of life in camp, arrival, forced labour, sanitation, and execution. Other buildings house memorials contributed by the European nations that were affected by the Holocaust. Many of the exhibitions were graphic and disturbing; walking from one to the next it was hard to imagine how so many SS Soldiers and other workers at Auschwitz were willing to go along with such a disgusting disregard for even the most basic of human rights.
*Empty containers that once stored the pelletized gas used in the gas chambers
One of the last memorials we passed was the one seen below. It commemorates the survivors of the camps who were too weak from starvation to be put on the 'Death Marches' as the Nazis evacuated before the Soviet liberation. Instead, these people were left behind to be discovered by the Russians. Many died shortly thereafter, from malnutrition or other diseases. Others spent many months recovering physically.
Like Auschwitz I, there were two main divisions of the camp: 1) living quarters for detainees (most of whom would be worked to death within 2-3 months), and 2) mass extermination (mostly of Jews, known as the Final Solution to the Jewish Question).
First, we toured the living barracks. Each building, constructed of wood, was originally designed as a horse stable and was meant to house 52 horses. Instead, up to 400 people were placed in each barrack. In the winter, it would be freezing cold in the buildings, as they were not air tight or insulated. In the summer, it would be stifling.
*Living quarters, 10 individuals would share each bunk level
There were few latrine barracks, an image of which is shown below. The number provided was far from sufficient for the number of detainees. The poor sanitary conditions led to the spread of disease.
While there were many living barracks, most were dismantled after the war ended by poor and starving Polish residents who needed building materials for their houses. The image below shows all that remains of most barracks, a chimney and some foundation.
A guard tower is shown in the image below. There were many towers lining the camp.
A railway track runs through the main gate (shown in a picture above), into the camp. Prisoners would be brought into the camp in small railcars, in which they had been forced to travel for days (sometimes up to 10) with no food, water, or space to move. Many did not make it alive to the camps.
*Train track into Auschwitz-Birkenau
*Actual train car that was used to bring prisoners from France to Auschwitz-Birkenau
When the prisoners were carted off of the train, they were immediately sorted by a Nazi doctor. Those that were sent to the left (considered to be healthy and able-bodied), were to be housed in the barracks and worked to death. Those that were sent to the right were immediately walked to the gas chamber/crematorium. They were told that they needed to be disinfected after their long journey and would be going into the showers. They were undressed in a basement chamber and hung their clothing on numbered hooks, which they were asked to remember so they could easily locate their clothing after the shower. They were then sent into the gas chamber, which was outfitted with dummy shower heads. The doors would be locked, the lights turned off, and the Zyklon-B gas would be added to the ventilation system. Within 20 minutes, all would be dead. They were then raided of any remaining valuables (e.g., hair, gold teeth) and the bodies were burned. Four crematoriums were located at Auschwitz-Birkenau and they had they combined capacity to gas and burn 20,000 people every day. Before the Soviets overtook the camp in January 1945, the Nazis tried to destroy evidence of these horrific crimes by blowing up the crematoriums. They only partially remain on the site today.
Beside these remains are a memorial that was erected on the 20th anniversary of the liberation of the camp. There are statues that represent the burial practices of each ethnic group that had members perish within the camp. There is also a plaque, which is replicated in each language that was spoken by those who perished at the camp. The English sign is at the far right and 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".
Today was a very difficult day and one that we will probably remember for some time to come. While it was very sad and emotionally wrenching to witness the sites of such human atrocities, there was also inspiration to be found in the stories of courage and the struggle for survival. We strongly recommend that all those who have the chance to visit this museum take the opportunity to do so.
Well written, Excellent blog post.
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