The Auschwitz Museum

On Monday morning we checked out of Hotel Kazimierz at 5:25 a.m. and boarded a motorcoach for our drive to Prague.  On the way, we had a scheduled tour at the remains of Auschwitz-Birkenau starting at 8 a.m.  Before we even really woke up, we found ourselves in that awful, shocking place.

Samantha Benson writes about some basic facts about Auschwitz-Birkenau and what can be seen there today:

Although this awful place is not one to take joy in seeing, I am glad that I had the opportunity to come here. Even this remnant that was before our eyes is indescribable. While I don't ever plan to return, I only hope that others are able to come and see for themselves.

gas chambers and crematoria
Auschwitz I

The gates leading into Auschwitz I reads "Arbeit Macht Frei" which is a German phrase meaning "Work Sets You Free". This ominous phrase addressed all prisoners of the earlier-built Auschwitz I camp. This was a concentration campu, and along with able-bodied prisoners it also housed Nazi soldiers, scientists, and doctors. Here people were tested upon in horrific ways and died within months. Auschwitz I had gas chambers, but it wasn't sent up in a manner that could produced industrialized, mass death.  Auschwitz II, which is also called Birkenau, was a straightforward death camp where thousands of people could be killed in short order.

train into Auschwitz II - Birkenau

Prior to arrival, the victims did not know the truth of their destination. They were under the impression they were moving east to farmlands, and they brought many belongings to start what they thought was a new life. In some cases, people paid for their own train tickets. After exiting the trains, the people were rounded up by the Nazis and separated in groups of men and women.  The Nazis would go through their belongings and stockpile them in buildings known as "Canada" where they would be exported to people living around the Nazi-expanded German empire. Some were sent to the labor camp, some were sent to the death camp.

pile of eyeglasses

The photo on the left is a large pile of eyeglasses belonging to the people entering the camp. We saw many displays like this consisting of shoes, combs, kitchen equipment, and even human hair.

Auschwitz I interior

The photo on the right is an example of the living conditions in Auschwitz I. The beds are sacks filled with hay on the floor with the sole purpose of maximum capacity.  Because the people sent to Auschwitz II (Bierkenau) were destined for death, the living conditions were unbearable. Sickness was rampant and it left little protection to weather elements. To be here was a death sentence. For those healthy enough to work, the conditions of Auschwitz I seemed like a luxury to be indoors.

Auschwitz II "residences"

When people were going to be sent to the gas champters, they were told to put their clothing on hooks and to remember their numbers, giving the false assumption that they would be returning to their clothes. They were sent as a group into the showers, and locked in.  Instead of water, poisonous gas came out of the showerheads. It was a pesticide that caused suffocation. Then their bodies were removed and cremated.   

Zyklon-B poison

All that remains of Auschwitz II are the chimneys. This picture shows just a small percentage of chimneys standing in the field. It seems like they go on forever in the stillness. All that remains of the four gas chambers and crematoriums in Auschwitz-Birkenau are rubble -- this is in the photo on the right. The Nazis tried to destroy all evidence of their horrendous operation upon fleeing. However, even in its destruction it is clear the purpose of the buildings. When the Germans left this place, they took the wood and they forced the prisoners on a death march.  They forced the prisoners to march 40 kilometers in the dead of winter, many barefoot. Those who were slow were shot.




Some of the wooden buildings were reconstructed twenty years after, and the brick made buildings are still standing.  This raises the ethical issue about to what extent this place should be preserved.Such a place is the last place many people were with their families. It is all some have left of their family.  As our guide reiterated many, many times: This place is important to see and it is pertinent that we do not forget.


We will not forget.