Auschwitz is a small city southwest of Kraków, the old capital of Poland. After invading Poland in 1939, Nazi Germany began the construction of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination Camp here. In the beginning of 1942, the Nazi Government reached the conclusion of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" on the Wannsee Conference, and made a decision to exterminate the Jews in the most efficient and systematic way. An estimation after war about death population is around 1.1 to 1.3 million, and over 90 percent are Jews.
In 1947, Polish congress conserved this camp completely and modified it to a national museum in memory of the Holocaust and as a witness of this notorious event in human history. In 1979, the UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage.
During World War II, Nazi Germany had six extermination camps simply in Poland. Among, the Auschwitz Concentration Camp is the biggest among the six and it can be separated into three parts. No. 2, Birkenau Zone, is the biggest one among the three and the train could drive directly inside the camp which had gas chambers and execution ground. It could be called a systematic killing factory. No. 1, Auschwitz Zone, was the administration centre and Polish insurrectionists, Russian captives, homosexuals and criminals would be executed in this zone. No. 3, Monowitz Zone, was a chemical factory and labourer prisoners would be sent here working. After a time if part of prisoners cannot work anymore, doctors will send them to the gas chamber.
Nobody was aware of what Nazi Germany was doing here until Russian army conquered Poland in the beginning of 1945. The Russian army was just astonish there was such a killing factory which has operated for years day and night. In winter of 1944, when Nazi Germany began to retreat, they tried to destroy all evidence. But it was cold and pretty difficult to do it so that the outrageously killing factory could be testified. In the moment the camp was found, only 7,000 survivors lived and a great amount of things left behind the deceased Jews, such as female hairs, luggage, shoes and clothes, were left there not terminated yet.
Photo 01
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| This room introduced operation of the camp. |
Photo 02
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| The travel guide is introducing that Auschwitz was the execution centre of Europe. All Jews captures over Europe would be sent here to be executed. |
Photo 03
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| This board estimated population of Jews died in Auschwitz from different countries. The most were from Hungary and Poland. |
The Long-Planned Extermination to Jews
Nazi Germany merged Austria in 1938, and merged Czech and Poland respectively in 1939. After that, they drove all Jews in these areas step by step to a ghetto newly settled in Poland. In 1940, the Auschwitz Camp started the construction and began to work after its finish in 1942. In early period, Jews were transported by trucks and afterwards Nazi constructed the railroad system to make the transportation much more efficient. As soon as Jews got in the train, they could be directly sent into the camp to be executed.
When the Nazi police to clean the Jews, they gave the Jewish family only 30 minutes to package. Under this situation, anybody will bring all most precious things with themselves. But finally, all the precious things were possessed by the Nazi.
The Nazi would lie to Jews that they were being sent to a new paradise (actually they were sent to the heaven) that would provide jobs and lands...... When having no choices, you can only believe even knowing it is a lie in a big chance. Surprising is that as soon as getting in the train, it is a way directly to death. Over hundred Jews were forced crowding in a trunk without seats and lived this way for 4-5 days without any food and water. Before arriving to the destination, many had died on the train...... in some point of view these early-died Jews were a lucky group.
Photo 04
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| The Jewish families were forced to leave their homes. |
Photo 05
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| Just arrived at the camp. This train transported Jews from Hungary. |
Photo 06
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| Process of selection of whom to be labourers and whom to die. |
Selection and Process
The first step after arrival is classification and selection according to race, religion, homosexual and any other "unwelcome" reasons. The persons with bodies able to labour or able for in vivo experiments will survive temporarily. They will be burned a number and classified to dormitories. Other valueless will be sent to the gas chamber. Those unselected (including elders, women, kids etc.) will be cheated to be cleaned or to take a shower, and their luggage and clothes will be under Nazi's safekeeping. Usually after getting off the train within 24 hours, without having any food or water, these "valueless" were sent to die in gas chambers in 30 to 40 minutes.
The gas chamber (more than one) is not very wide and usually it exterminated 700 people at once. People will die in half an hour, but cleaning the remains took four more hours. The cleaning work should be done by the surviving Jews. Before cremation, cleaners should check if there is any gold teeth inside dead's mouth. If any missing happened in this work, it should be easy imagined what will happen to the cleaner Jew. When gas chambers operated together, over 6,000 Jews could be exterminated per day. Right beside the gas chamber is the cremation oven. Daring not to imagine what scene it was like 70 years ago.
By the way, all medical staff and equipment inside the camp had only to uses: selecting prisoners and made in vivo experiments. As soon as any prisoner got sick, the only way was waiting to die or was sent to die......
Photo 07
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| Even children could not survive under the extermination. |
Photo 08
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| During the process of transportation, if anybody felt panic or provoked, these people would be also sent to the gas chamber directly without selection. |
Photo 09
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| Look outside from a window. The same scene, but feeling differs immensely. |
Estimation of Sufferers
As for the Jews, the sufferers died in extermination camps is about 5.1 to 5.2 million people (many other Jews were executed on the spot right after the Nazi arrived and occupied this place). Children were about 1/3 of the dead population. All Jews dying during World War II were about 1/3 of all Jews around the world, about 2/3 of all Jews over the whole Europe, and over 90 percent of Jews died here. Other sufferers in a relatively less rate were Gypsies, homosexuals, war captives, communists and Nazi's political criminals.
Photo 10
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| A pair of shoes is a life. We saw a great deal of hairs in another room (no photography). Many visitors sobbed at the scene. |
Photo 11
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| Very tight wire netting. Who could escape? |
Photo 12
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| The wire netting was electrified. |
After reading many Internet materials for writing these articles, I felt very heavy not less than the day I visited here. In some moments of the visit, I tried to imagine being any role here 70 years ago, but it is a horrible task. I didn't explore it too deeply for protecting my mind from feeling scared.
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