14 August 2010
The Auschwitz-Birkenau system of Nazi concentration camps was the largest of all the Nazi camps and was designated by Heinrich Himmler to be the “final solution of the Jewish question in Europe” – it was an extermination camp. Unbelievable atrocities were committed here.
This post is going to be brief; if I were to just leave it at “Unbelievable atrocities were committed here” that would sum up the Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camp system.
If you haven’t read my posts on Mauthausen and Sachsenhausen concentration camps in Austria and Germany respectively then I recommend you take a look as I go into a little more detail on my experiences.
Visiting Auschwitz does not need to take as much time as Sachsenhausen as there is not the same wealth of information to take in. It does however have some harrowing displays of what was found after the camp was liberated including huge cabinets of hair which was shaved off prisoners on arrival, suitcases, shoes and more.
[pe2-gallery class=”alignright” ] [/pe2-gallery]
Auschwitz II-Birkenau where many prisoners went straight from the train to the gas chambers under the impression they were going to take a shower.
The electrified, double barbed wire fences which kept so many imprisoned.
[pe2-gallery class=”alignright” ] [/pe2-gallery]
Gas Chambers & crematoriums; the system which was used to murder so many.
[pe2-gallery class=”alignright” ] [/pe2-gallery]
Photos taken of prisoners during the early years of the system when the Nazi’s still bothered.
[pe2-gallery class=”alignright” ] [/pe2-gallery]
Inhumane treatment of prisoners.
[pe2-gallery class=”alignright” ] [/pe2-gallery]
Auschwit-Birkenau tour
Larger than Auschwitz I, this extermination camp was built in 1941 to ease the burden on the I. Held many classes of prisoners, this camp witnessed the Final Solution of the Jewish Question, the extermination of the Jews. The first gas chamber, the Little Red House, was a brick lodge transformed into a gassing facility; while the second brick cottage, the Little White House, was another one formed later.
http://www.historicaltravelguide.com/auschwitz-concentration-camp.html