My Trip to Auschwitz (Long with lots of pictures)

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The Trip There:

I took the night train from Prague to Krakow. The train actually passes through the town of Oswiecim where Auschwitz is located, but it got there at 4:45am, so I preferred to stay in my sleeper until 6:30am when the train reached Krakow, from where I could take a bus to Auschwitz.

I arrived in Krakow on October 17, 2009. At the Krakow railway station, I grabbed a quick breakfast and coffee and headed to the bus station that is located conveniently next to the railway station. The round trip bus ticket to Aushwitz was 20 zloty which was roughly $6 or so if I remember right.

After a comfortable bus trip of about 1.5 hours, we were dropped directly outside the entrance of Auschwitz 1.

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The Camps:

Aushwitz consists of 3camps two of which are preserved as part of the memorial - Auschwitz I and Aushwitz II - Birkenau. Auswitz I was first built in 1940, consisting of 20 buildings. The camp housed between 15,000 and 20,000 prisoners. When the number of prisoners got too large, a second camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau was built

about 3 km away at which point Aushwitz was transformed literally into a factory of death, unequalled in horror to anything in history.

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Auschwitz I - The Approach

It was a cold and rainy day in Oswiecim, somehow grimly apprropriate. Given the history of the place, a warm sunny day would have felt just wrong.

Here is the view of the entrance to the the museum at Aushwitz I. The walkway, the trees and lawn, and the unassuming building in the background hid well the horrors that were awaiting me.

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Auschwitz I - The Entrance

Pictured below is the main gate to the entrance of Auschwitz I. Abvove the gate is the wrought iron inscription that cynically proclaims "Arbeit Macht Frei," which is German for Work brings Freedom. Through

these gates would march thousands of prisoners to and from work, which would take more than 12 hours every day. Thousands died from overwork, starvation and abuse - of course the gas chambers accounted for many many more - but that part will have to wait until later in this photo journey.

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Auschwitz I - Barbed Wire and Menace

A few views of the buildings set among barbed wire at Auschwitz I. The grim malice of the place is palpable

even after all these years. The watchtowers are interspersed among the buildings - one can almost imagine an SS guard with a machine gun and searchlight up in there.

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Auschwitz I - The Buildings

I went into all the buildings that have exhibits. No photography was allowed indoors, so I didn't take any. The sights inside were unforgettable though. I still get them in my dreams a month later.

The most horrific ones are Buildings 4 and 5. Here are outside pictures.






Lots of high schoolers were making field trips to the camp. That's a great thing in my opinion.




Building 4 is aptly named "Extermination." Inside is a model of the gas chambers and crematorium, where corpses from the gas chambers were burned as well as displays of the gas canisters that were thrown into the gas chambers.

One of the most striking exhibits in this building is a wall-sized glass panel behind which there is a gigantic mound of hair probably about 20 feet by 10 feet in area - over a thousand pounds worth, that had been shaved off the heads of prisoners and were used to make blankets for the German army. Also on display were huge piles of shoes, suitcases, toothbrushes, pots and pans and other assorted belongings that the prisoners obviously didn't need once they got dispatched to the gas chambers.

The exhibit that affected me the most in this building was a large pile of kids shoes and dolls. Kids were dispatched to the gas chambers directly from the trains (more on this later) and if anyone who has kids (as well as those who don't) can stand before this exhibit and not get a lump in your throat, you are not human.

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Auschwitz I - The Assembly Square

This is a re-creation of the gallows in the assembly area where prisoners were hanged for petty offenses or arbitrary reasons.

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Auschwitz I - The Courtyard of Death

Between Buildings 10 and 11 is the so-called Courtyard of Death. Here, thousands of prisoners were lined up against an execution wall and shot. Today, flowers and prayer candles have been placed by visitors in front of the wall. It is noteworthy that the windows of buildings 10 and 11 on either side of the courtyard were sealed shut with wooden blinds to prevent the screams of the victims to be heard by the inmates of those buildings.





The cellars of building 11 contain numerous rooms where prisoners were tortured and often summarily executed.

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Auschwitz I - The gallows of Rudolf Hoess

Here is where Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz was hanged for crimes against humanity.



Right next to the gallows is Crematorium 1 and the gas chamber on Auschwitz 1. No photos were allowed here, so I didn't take any. It was a chilling feeling though standing 2 feet from the crematorium. Words cannot describe it.

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Auschwitz II/Birkenau - The Entrance

Auschwitz II is located about 3 km from Auschwitz I. While Auschwitz I was a model of concentrated horror, Auschwitz II made it pale in comparison. The scale of the place and the size is unbelievable. Auschwitz II was an extermination camp first and foremost.

Here is a view of the entrance to Auschwitz, taken from the inside. Train tracks enabled thousands of Jews and others to be brought in from all over Europe with chilling efficiency.



Note the same view of the entrance building from this vidcap from Schindler's list. This is from the scene where the train carrying Schindler's female workers gets routed to Auschwitz by mistake instead of his factory.



The camp is HUGE. It took me over an hour to just walk all the way around it.

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Auschwitz II - The Unloading Platform

This is a picture of the guard tower next to the location where the trains would stop and the prisoners would be unloaded from the cattle cars. The camp doctors would then separate the able bodied men who would be sent to work, from the women, children, old and invalid, who would be sent directly to the gas chambers. Also, one of the cattle cars that brought thousands to their doom can be seen.

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Auschwitz II - The Barracks

Pictures of the barracks where prisoners stayed while they could still work. Gradually through malnutrition, cold and disease, they all succumbed either directly, or were dispatched to the gas chambers when they couldn't work. Buildings that were designed to hold 50 horses housed 1000 prisoners.

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Auschwitz II - The End of the Line

After coming through the main entrance, the train tracks went all the way until they got to the crematoria, the ruins of which can be seen in the background. This was the end of the line, both literally and figuratively for many people on the trains. The tracks ended right next to Crematoria 2 and 3.




Here is a view of where the train tracks end. Far in the background, the entrance building can be barely seen. That gives an idea of the size of the camp.

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Auschwitz II - The Gas Chambers

The gate marking the entrance to the gas chambers and crematoria.



The Nazis destroyed the crematoria and gas chambers when they were retreating from the Soviet Army to try to hide their crimes. Only the ruins remain.





The photo below shows how the gas chambers were built underground.

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Auschwitz II - The Outdoor Pit

At one point, the number of arrivals who were sent to the gas chambers was so great that the crematoria could not keep up. The Nazis resorted to burning corpses outdoors. The pit in the picture below, marked by the memorial stone markers, contains ashes of thousands of victims.