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Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp

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Scubabartek
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Editor Pick

Last Stop on the Road to Prejudice

  • September 25, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Praskipark from Warsaw, Poland
Last Stop on the Road to Prejudice

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is a grim destination and afterwards you will want some time to contemplate what you have seen. The exhibits are designed to provoke a strong emotional response to one of the blackest crimes in European history. In my opinion the museum is not appropriate for children under the age of fourteen.

Auschwitz has become a symbol of the Holocaust and Nazi war crimes as a whole. Contrary to popular opinion, it was not the deadliest of the Nazi death camps. Its fame is in part due to the inmates, including writers like Tadeuz Borowski (1922 - 51) and Elie Weisel (b. 1928), who survived to tell their grisly tale. However, Auschwitz - Birkenau combined all the different functions of the Nazi camps: prisoner-of-war camp, concentration camp, work camp and death camp.

Although the exact numbers are not known, the vast majority of the camp's victims were indubitably there simply because thy were Jews. Auschwitz, however, also held many other inmates: gypsies, communists, homosexuals, Polish intellectuals and political prisoners, as well as Soviet prisoners of war.

Soviet soldiers were the first to be killed with Zyklon B in experimental gas chambers. Later, the gas was mostly used on Jewish victims. Many who survived the gas chambers were shot, starved, worked to death, experimented on or otherwise killed by the harsh conditions in the camp. Most historians believe that 1.1 and 1.5 million prisoners were killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Nazi camp operated from 1940 when the first transport of Polish political prisoners arrived. At first Poles were imprisoned and then died there but from 1942 Auschwitz became a site of mass murder committed against the European Jews as part of the Nazi plan to completely destroy them. The site was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945.

The museum includes two sections of the camps: the brick buildings at Auschwitz 1 (mostly for political prisoners and prisoners of war) and the immense concentration and death camp at Auschwitz 11 - Birkenau (mostly for Jews and gypsies). To visit both camps will take several hours and is obviously a day's visit. In the Summer, a bus runs between both sites. I recommend you visit the Auschwitz museum before Birkenau as the former explains the history of the two camps. Also, watch the short documentary film first which can be viewed in a cinema near the main entrance. It gives an insight into events leading up to the culmination of the worst crime ever committed in the twentieth century.

The camp, although it has been sanitised is still is very haunting.The buildings and wooden barracks are as unchanged as possible but are deteriorating as they were built on marshy land and they are actually slowly sinking. The whole site has a very cold, dark, eerie feeling. Every time I have visited it is has always been calm but I am sure those freezing winds did blow. There is a deadly stillness with no bird life yet there are trees close by. You have to remember that this was a camp of death and the people who died here had no dignity. There was no escape for most of those people - but once seen and having paid my respects I can walk away.

Without going into to much detail you are able to view the surviving prison blocks, the gas chambers and the crematorium. As you walk through the death gate at Birkenau you will feel like you are walking into the last place in hell. The fences alone are enough to give you the creeps and what I find really strange is that today, in Warsaw, every new block of flats that is being built has these fenced areas with security guards. It's madness - after their history why on earth would they choose to live like prisoners.

As the Red Army approached in 1945, the Germans blew up the buildings which housed the gas ovens and fled. Protective and renovation work has been going on for quite a while now to restore them back to how they were so that future generations are able to witness the destruction and horrifying examples of man's behaviour.The work should be completed by the end of 2008. The Polish Government feel it is important to restore these chambers as they constitute some of the most important material evidence of the Holocaust.


You can visit the site on your own but it is vast and personally I would say a very sombre experience indeed. I recommend you join a guided group or engage a private guide; most of the exhibits are marked with explanations in several languages but a guide can answer questions and direct you to areas of special interest. Do not miss the black and white film about the liberation of the camp (showings in English, French, German and Japanese) in the reception building also. Encourage your guide to show you the Sauna (pronounced zow-na - the central baths) at Birkenau. It is the last thing on most tours and is sometimes overlooked by visitors. It is an extremely well crafted exhibit.

Some displays, such as the one in Block 13 dedicated to Roma gypsies is very interesting and really depressing. Remember that over 20,000 gypsies perished in Auschwitz, out of a total of 23,000 deported there. Whole families were wiped out. To me, this was an unparalled crime of genocide ever to be committed and should not be forgotten. This block is generally left out of tour guides but I would recommend you go back to see the display after the tour.


You can buy guide books and picture albums in the museum gift shop, as well as flowers and candles if you wish to leave a memorial. There is a canteen which serves heavy Polish food.

The museum is open all year round and admission is free. Opening Times are from 8am until 7pm. Buses can be caught from Krakow. The PKS service leaves the main bus station (corner of ul. Worcella and ul. Pawia) and will drop you off at the museum. They run every hour.

Summary
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Visiting somewhere like Auschwitz isn't a fun day out. It is depressing and upsetting. If you have no connection with anyone or anything that went on there, then you might ask, 'Is there any need to visit? Yes, there is a need. I would recommend a visit because I see it as the ultimate destination on the road to prejudice. People often say when they have visited, You can't possibly imagine what it must have been like. Perhaps not but everyday living in Warsaw, I walk past the train stop where thousands of Jewish people were loaded on to carts to be taken to Auschwitz. It is now a monument to those people who suffered and every day I can see those horrific images and every day I have the same feelings - feelings of sadness for such a great loss of lives but also feelings of hope that this will never happen again.

From journal Some Interesting Attractions to Visit in Poland

Editor Pick

Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp

  • March 14, 2008
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Slug from Huddersfield, United Kingdom
Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp

One of the more important Krakow decisions for any visitor is around Auschwitz. Should you visit?

On the two occasions we have visited Krakow, we have been two minded about visiting Auschwitz. On the one hand, we wouldn’t want to turn the death camp into some "must see" tourist venue, on the other, is ignoring the place even worse? In the end, we decided we had a sad duty to pay our respects to the deceased and give the place a little bit of purpose. Perhaps we would learn a little from Auschwitz.

In practical terms, Auschwitz is just a little awkward to visit from Krakow. Either you can go on a tour, which to me turns the visit into something of a distasteful tourist circus, or you can make your own way there by service bus. The latter is far cheaper, but beware that it takes around an hour and a half to get there. Arrive early, as the bus can be at standing only spaces (or indeed turn people away). You can also catch a mini-bus which might be a little quicker.

Auschwitz is divided into two main visitor sections today. The original camp is on the edge of town (Oswiecim), while the far more chilling Birkenau is up on the hill, where more deaths took place. There is a free shuttle bus between the two parts of the museum.

Auschwitz

I’m always surprised how cheerful Auschwitz looks from the outside; bright red brick barracks originally built by the Austrian Army look solid and bright. If the history of the place was any different, it could be a row of café bars and swanky clothing boutiques by now. I’m not trying to detract from the sheer horror that lie within during the war years, but don’t expect to see a dark cloud hovering over the place (and yes, the birds do sing).

The entrance hall is a bit of a pantomime with a whole series of tour groups and chattering schoolchildren passing through. You can stop for a coffee (probably the worst coffee in Eastern Europe), and there is a bookshop available. The actual entrance to Auschwitz is free, and small parties are able to access the site without a tour guide.

The most famous sight of Auschwitz is near the front door; an entrance gate with the telling slogan of "Arbeit Macht frei" (Work makes free). Likewise, most of the security fences, watch towers and barbed wire is still here, giving the visitor a feel for the caged in quality of the camp.

Inside, there are around 30 barracks in the camp, and many of them are open for display. Here, you can see how the Nazis turned the inmates into a scarily effective factory farm. Inmates processed new incomers, separating out valuables from luggage, and even extracting gold fillings from corpses, and using hair for suit lining. The inmates even worked at the factory that produced gas to kill the unwanted incomers. Here, the sheer scale of the inhumanity becomes clear, and you will walk past piles of human hair, shoes and luggage.

The various displays show what happened to the prisoners, how they were "processed" and what life was like for the survivors. As it started snowing during our visit, the tales of the 10-hour outdoor parades where prisoners froze to death in the cold were particularly affecting. Some of the barrack displays are dedicated to particular prisoners, for example, the Belgian Jews, the Roma or the Polish Political prisoners. Not all is negative, other displays tell the small efforts of resistance that some of the prisoners were able to effect, and the tale of the Polish Resistance Army.

Auschwitz was the place where the final solution was perfected, and you can visit the furnaces, and a reconstruction of the original gas chamber. The wall of death where the Nazis killed prisoners by a single bullet (rather than by the "wasteful" firing squad I imagined), is now a shrine to the dead. On the day we visited (the 63rd anniversary of liberation), the wall was a sea of wreathes.

Birkenau is a couple of miles out of town, deliberately placed here away from prying eyes. This was the death camp built to deal with the volumes of Jews coming from the ghettos of Poland and Germany. I didn’t have chance to visit Birkenau on our most recent trip, but from my previous experience, I know this is a soulless place.

Behind the camp wall, stands a huge sea of brick chimney stacks; all that remain from the original huge wooden sheds used to house the prisoner workers. A train took in new prisoners, and the gas chambers stood beneath the platform, to ease the process of the murder of the unwanted (the unhealthy, the young and the old).

There is simultaneously less and more to see at Birkenau. There is less explanation, but the horror needs no description. A couple of the huts remain; one the toilet block for the prisoners (rows of concrete holes), and the other a cellblock where the cramped and terrible conditions can be easily imagined.

Overall, I am pleased to pay my respects to the dead of Auschwitz. Our tour seemed informative rather than ghoulish, and I particularly appreciated that the displays covered both the terror and the resistance to life in the camps.

While the camps still exist and are well visited, there has to be some hope that people will appreciate the dangers of dehumanising sections of population. In these migrant fearing, war-on-terror paranoid times, this is clearly a history lesson that needs re-teaching.

From journal Krakow Places

Editor Pick

Auschwitz

  • February 12, 2008
  • Rated 5 of 5 by sizemoretravel from Jacksonville, Florida
Auschwitz

My mother and I were visiting my brother in Germany because he was stationed there in the US Army. I study the Holocaust and definitely wanted to take the time out to go to Poland and see Oswiecim, the site of the death camps, Auschwitz/Birkenau.

We did not get to spend nearly enough time seeing the camps, so we are going back this year. I highly recommend at least devoting an entire day to Auschwitz/Birkenau. It takes over an hour to get to the camps from Krakow (taking the bus from Krakow Glowny station was very interesting-we were packed in like sardines). The bus to Oswiecim from the train station was difficult to find (even though Oswiecim was in the bus window, this is the true name of the Polish town-Auschwitz is the German name). It was $7 Zloty (PLN) (paid to the driver) for the bus and he let us off in front of the camp, but neglected to tell us where to go in. I'm not kidding, there are apartments next to the entrance and we wandered in the wrong direction. We were lucky enough that a nice, non-English speaking Polish man gave us the right directions. An important thing about Poland is that we didn't find as many English speaking people as in Germany. I can't tell you if going it alone beats a tour, because I went alone, but if you are looking for minimal hassle, a tour would probably be easiest. You can also book a guide once you arrive at the camp. Non Polish Speaking individual guides cost 39 Zloty (PLN) as of this writing. This includes up to 3.5 hr tour, shuttle between Auschwitz I and Birkenau and 15 minute documentary. During my visit, I was pressed for time, as the museum was closing, so I decided to head to Birkenau. We found a nice taxi driver to take us from Auschwicz I to Auschwitz II/Birkenau (walkable, but it was winter and near closing time). He gave us a semi-helpful spiel on the way (he didn't speak much English). I am not Jewish, but believe that everyone should visit this site of the murder of 1.5 million Jews as well as Gypsies, Poles, homosexuals, political prisoners as well as others.

You can feel the spirits of the murdered in this place...... Plan on feeling very sad after your visit.

Auschwitz is open 7-days per week. It is free to get in. Opens daily at 8am and closes at different times of the year based on the season.

Some movies to watch before going:

Schindler's List
The Pianist

Books to read:

"Night" by Elie Wiesel
"If this is a Man" by Primo Levi
"The Diary of Anne Frank"
"Auschwitz and After" by Charlotte Delbo

The unifying point of several of these authors is that they actually died in Auschwitz, although they physically survived. I am reading Charlotte Delbo now and am touched beyond belief...

From journal Auschwitz/Birkenau-the Reason I flew to Poland

Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp

  • May 31, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by fionademp from London, United Kingdom
A trip to Auschwitz is a depressing sight on holiday but an essential visit. We organized our trip over the internet £30 each before leaving. The trip included a private minibus, which picked the seven of us up from our hotel and dropped us home. There are loads of companies, all at different prices, and you can book whilst in Poland or before you go. It takes around an hour from Krakow to reach Auschwitz with tours starting at Auschwitz I. On arrival, your tour operator should sort out entry and place you in a tour group. Our tour started with a video using footage made by the Red Army during the liberation. The film is very graphic and lasts around 15 minutes. It is not advised to take children under 14 to Auschwitz, and especially not into the film, as it is not for the faint-hearted. The tour then begins at the main gate. Your tour guide will take you through each area explaining the artifacts and the history of the places. There are a number of museums within the buildings, each with a different focus. For example, there is one focusing on personal artifacts collected by the Nazis, including peoples' hair and glasses. Block 11 is the torture block, again not for the faint-hearted. The tour of Auschwitz I takes about two hours. It can get very busy and, with so many people and tours in different languages, can be difficult to hear sometimes. Once this part of the tour has finished, you return to your cars to be taken to Auschwitz II. Auschwitz II, or Auschwitz-Birkenau, is the largest of the original three camps. The size is the biggest shock. The tour here lasts around an hour and includes the memorial, a tour of an original block, and inside a watch-tower. There are shops at both centers and a cafe at Auschwitz I. The trip is incredibly depressing and humbling but, in my opinion, such an important piece of history needs viewing, and is owed to the people who lost their lives.

From journal Weekend break in Krakow

Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp

  • April 23, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by albionvicar from Brighton, United Kingdom
Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp

Although not a pleasant day out, a trip to the infamous death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau is a must on anyone’s itinerary. I went on a day trip organised by Krakow Tours and frankly would not recommend them. There was too little time to cover the ground, and no time at all for reflection or contemplation.

I would suggest taking the train from the main Krakow station and using a bus or taxi from there. There are two sites worth seeing, Auschwitz 1 (originally a Polish Army barracks), and the main Birkenau death camp two miles away. (A bus runs between the two sites)

Start at Auschwitz 1 amongst the inoffensive barrack buildings, which give no clue as to the horrific history that took place there from the outside, until you look beyond to the wires that still surround them. A guided tour is recommended amongst the exhibits and exhibitions. (No photography inside the exhibits). The café is poor, bring your own food. Signage is clear and in English

Move on to Birkenau for the classic views of horror and desolation. The train tracks are still here and it is easy to imagine the past. I bought the book, ‘Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust', which gives a view on the whole event from the survivors' perspective.

From journal A Weekend in Kazimierz

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