The point of my trip to Poland was to visit the Auschwitz Concentration Camp and Birkenau Extermination Camp, also called Auschwitz II. This post includes a photo essay and reflections on my visit to Auschwitz.
Auschwitz Concentration Camp, A Photo Essay
Auschwitz was established in April 1940 and first served as a quarantine camp for Polish political prisoners. In August 1941, the first prisoners were executed via gas chamber: Soviet political prisoners. Even as construction began on Auschwtiz II (Birkenau), killings continued.
Odds of survival for those sent to Auschwitz were very poor:
Of the 1.3 million people sent to Auschwitz, 1.1 million were murdered. The number of victims includes 960,000 Jews (865,000 of whom were gassed on arrival), 74,000 ethnic Poles, 21,000 Roma, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war, and up to 15,000 other Europeans. Those not gassed were murdered via starvation, exhaustion, disease, individual executions, or beatings. Others were killed during medical experiments.
The Soviet Red Army liberated the camp on January 27, 1945.
I warned my friend I might get emotional and I did. It hit me in a room in which there were hundreds of pictures of children who were executed in Auschwitz-Birkenau. To see their faces–their hopes and dreams–sacrificed on the altar of a cowardly, racist, fear-driven pogrom is one of the hardest things to see of all. And those survivors, some of whom I have had the great honor of meeting, live for the rest of their lives with the memory that they faced the kind of extermination that we reserve for rodents and insects.
Perhaps what annoyed me more than anything was all the people taking selfies under the Arbeit Macht Frei (work sets you free) sign at the gate of the camp. Like so many killing fields around the world, this ground is stained with blood. It is not a tourist attraction like the nearby Wieliczka Salt Mine or Krakow Old Town, but a living memorial to the death of millions of people who were brutally murdered.
It’s one thing to read about death. It’s another thing to see it. To touch the ovens or stand in the gas chamber. Visiting Auschwitz is a must.
I prefer the black and white effect on the photos, but here is the same essay in color:
My great grandmothers parents and sisters were murdered there. Her autistic husband got her out of Krakow just in time but none of her family trusted him. I’ll never forget my visit to Auschwitz in the dead of winter.
My views are clear. Other genocides deserve as much recognition, especially from people that I would expect to have shared sense of grief and loss. If they don’t show it for other genocides, why should I care for this one?
Because you are selfish, self-absorbed and entitled. You cannot do anything without the guarantee of a return of equal or greater amount and yet you think you are compassionate.
You are a very sad person. My sympathies.
Debit, your views are not clear.
Your views are nazi.
You are a sad human being!
Not sure about “human”..
Because at the end of the day it’s still a genocide?!?! This is a frankly disgusting take, agreed that it’s essential to acknowledge all genocide, but how can you say let’s not care about this one? Wtaf
Haha.
People call me nazi because my views dont conform to their worldviews. The irony.
Anyway my point is if i thought of you people as less hypocritical maybe I wouldn’t express such strong views. Which sites of other genocide have you guys visited?
Your angry attitude and cavalier dismissal of evil is shocking. Comparing one annihilation of humans beings against another?! This is not a chess game. There are no winning moves. You lack compassion on a basic sensory scale. Study history before you dare espouse your ignorant opinion.
“Study history before you dare espouse your ignorant opinion.”
That is exactly my point cindy. How many other genocides have you studied?
Heil Debit! I’m witnessing the genocide of the neurons in your soulless brain…
Sounds like a typical run of the mill Republican.
well you know why there is no mention of the kurdish genocide?
bec erdogan will begin a genocide on anybody that mentions it!
Matthew, As a world traveler like yourself, I have had the pleasure of seeing the beauty of this planet in over sixty countries. Auschwitz is an example of the depravity man can inflict upon other men. It is not a pleasant experience, but it is moving, sad and heartbreaking. I strongly recommend visiting. Travel is about education and experiencing the world. Auschwitz will never leave your memory.
I couldn’t agree with you more.
Those two pictures below the one with the Cyklon sign: what amI looking at please?
The first picture is the lids and residual scrap metal from the Cyklon gas canisters. The second is pots, pans, and ceramics taken from victims. They were saved by the Nazis due to the scarcity of all resources during the war.
Thank you Jerry!
Dachau Concentration camp also a very powerful visit and easy to get to.
The neighbouring town of Dachau is very pleasant and worth checking out as well.
Thank you for this amazing set of photos and especially for offering them in B&W and color. Truly something we can never forget. Stunning photo images! God bless the souls that were lost.
It really is a place that everyone must visit at least once, the photos are great but the in-person experience is something unique. The most chilling bit for me were the piles of glasses and artificial limbs that the Nazis were diligently collecting from victims.
I totally agree. And the room with the shoes….the enormous pile of shoes…..of every size and type. So moving….
Thank you for this post. I visited these death camps several years ago and my camera broke and I was unable to take any pictures of them. But what I saw is permanently etched into my mind and your pictures have brought those images back to life. If I remember correctly, I remember finding the Birkenau camp the most disturbing because that is where ‘Dr. Mengele’ performed his ‘research & medical experiments’. Truly one of the most somber, emotional and chilling places I have ever visited.
But one well worth the visit.
One of the things I took away from Auschwitz is that it is the natural conclusion to racism, it is the only place it can end up and so we must fight it and the other ‘isms’ when ever we can and refuse to tolerate them.
You left out all the LGBT people who were murdered there
I would also recommend the Holocaust Museum in DC.
just interesting
you did not mention who ran the camps,
GERMANS, of course!!!(when it comes to germany all of a sudden the word nazi is used and not germans)
also would you mind revealing if your ancestors were in the SS LUFTWAFFE etc.
Not giving the Germans a pass,but to be historically precise,Adolf Hitler and Eichmann were Austrians,many doing the dirty work at auschwitz and other camps were Ukrainian collaborators,and others like Latvians and Estonians,some Lithuanian,…most of the jews murdered at Auschwitz were Hungarian and the Red Star collaborated there.While 74,000 ethnic Poles were murdered at Auschwitz,simultaneously double that number were slaughtered by Ukrainians in a genocide that has gone ignored,most were woman and children who met a fate far too gruesome for this blog.That Poles have now responded to Ukrainians with compassion speaks well for the Polish nation not investing in hatred and revenge.
Correction,it was the Hungarian Arrow Cross that assisted the deportations to Auschwitz.And BTW,curiously Ukraine to this day refuses to offer Poland an apology for the Wolyn genocide and just this year honoured the nazi collaborator who master minded it,Stepan Bandera,with a national day of remembrance.