Concentration

In 1939, the town of Oswiecim (a.k.a. Auschwitz) was taken by German forces who converted the town's abandonned military barracks into a concentration camp the next year. The first prisoners to arrive, on June 14, 1940, were Polish political prisoners, then those of other nationalities that were considered enemies of the state.

The entrance to the camp had this sign, "Arbeit Macht Frei," meaning "Work makes you free," which was clearly not the case. The prisoners here were forced to work long hours in difficult conditions, but would never be granted their freedom.

The camp was protected by multiple fences. And the prisoners were packed into the barracks. These buildings now contain prisoners' belongings, which were separated and sorted by other prisoners as part of their duties. Precious metals and anything else of value were sent to Berlin. You are not allowed to take photos inside, but believe me when I say that the huge piles have quite an impact because it helps you realize the scale of the imprisonment and genocide.

In 1942, after the construction of nearby Birkenau concentration camp, trainloads of European Jews arrived. They were lined up into two groups: those that were able to work and those that did not pass the inspection, including many women, children under a certain age, people over a certain age, anyone in poor physical health, and women with young children.

Those considered fit for work...

... and those not considered acceptable...

Here is the actual location where these historic photos were taken.

Those able to work were led to barracks. The wooden ones below are reconstructed ones on the men's side of the camp.

Note the number of chimneys in the distance, which indicate the number of buildings. 60,000 men were held here.

The women's side of the camp had brick buildings, which is why the originals are still standing. There were 40,000 women imprisoned here in Birkenau.

The women were forced to sleep five people to a bunk in this packed building and were only given two minutes to use the facilities in a nearby building.

Those in the non-worker line were taken to a wooded area and herded into a changing room where they were told to strip off clothes, jewelry, etc. to shower. They were crammed in to the "shower" room, which was actually a gas chamber, with 1000-2000 others. ZYKLON B pellets were poured in, which generate a poison gas when activated by heat. The body heat of the crowds of people was all that was needed to activate the pellets. They would all die in about 10-20 minutes. One can of pellets cost about 5 marks and 10 cans was enough to kill the 1000-2000 people. The bodies were then stripped of any remaining valuables and the hair was cut off to be used in making cloth. The hair brought a price of about half a mark per kilo. The bodies were taken to the five crematoriums which could handle a capacity of about 1500 people per day. The ashes were then used as fertizilier. Of the 1.1 million Jews that came on the trains to Birkenau, 900K went directly to the gas chamber.

The picture below shows the rumble of one of the crematoriums, which the SS destroyed before their retreat.

Between June 1941 and January 1945 about 1.3 million people came through these camps and about 1.1 million of them died. The prisoners were freed on January 27, 1945 when the Soviets took over Oswiecim.

The bus ride back to town was long enough to give us the quiet reflection time we needed after a very heavy day. When we returned to town, we met Sinead for dinner and then tea at her favorite tea spot on the square. She has become a regular here while Sarah and I have been seeing the sights outside town.