Visit to Auschwitz

This weekend with Clive and Bec over from the UK, we went on a tour of Auschwitz, one of the most amazing, interesting, horrifying and surreal experiences of my life. If you ever get a chance to take this tour - do it. Its an experience you wont forget. Our tour guide was Simon, who has a personal connection to the camp, his great grandfather was a prisioner, and survived. When he entered the camp, he weighed a healthy 70Kg. When the camp was liberated, he weighed only 30Kg.

Auschwitz (the german name for the town where the camps are located) is actually made of three camps, I (the original) II (the death machine) and III (labour for a chemical company, the company is still trading to this day).

The first big influx of prisioners was the 15,000 Solviet POWs taken to Auschwitz I. Of this 15,000 only 90 survived until camp liberation - less than 1%. In each building, over 1000 people were crammed in extremely poor conditions. Beating were regular, and prisioners were executed at random - along with being used for medical experiments. Auschwitz I also had the SS “Summary Court”, where prisioners were taken for sentencing from outside of the camp. Usually the verdict was execution by gun at the “Wall of Death”. Other sentences included being confied in various cells including: Starvation cell, Suffocation Cell (sealed room only one small 20cm x 20cm hole for fresh air packed full of people) and Standing Cell (4 prisioners in a cell 90cm x 90cm for upto 2 weeeks). The first tests of the gas used in the gas chambers were also conducted in these cells.

One aspect that was consistantly raised was the deception of new people to the camps by the Nazi’s. When new prisioners arrived, they were often told they were going to the showers before entering the camp. Once in the “showering” area, hatches were opened and poisen gas pellets thrown in which at 27 degrees released the poison gas. To mask the screams, guards would turn on engines and generations. The most haunting experience was walking through the original gas chamber at Auschwitz I, it was de-comissioned as it was not effective enough - the furnaces could only burn 1500 bodies a day at a maxium - not enough for the Nazis. You can only imagine the fear that would have been felt when they closed the big metal doors, and dropped the poison in. Truely terrifying.

After the Auschwitz I tour, it was off the Auschwitz II - Birkenau. This camp was buit primarly for one purpose - mass extermination. To aid in this, the trains full of prisioners entered the camp directly. In some cases it has been documented that Nazis sold tickets on the train, again deception in that the prisioners (mainly jewish families) were told they were being moved to new area where they could live. The purpose of this, ensure the jews took all their valuables with them which ultimatly became Nazi property. Auschwitz was a profit making camp for the Nazi government.

Upon arrival the prisioners where off loaded, and immedietly had their suitcases and bags stripped from them. They were then sorted into Women and Children, and Men. For the men, if they were fit for work, they were directed to the left, if they were old, weak or sick there were directed to the right. There is an amazing photo taken showing the seperation of men and women, at the front of the mens line is a man with a walking stick, from the shadow of the Nazi general, you can see him pointing to the right - to death.

Those directed to the right did not know they were heading to their deaths. There are photos of people walking calmly, no fear or panic on their faces, as far as they were concerned, they were being taken to the showers.  Upon walking down some stairs, they were all made to undress in the “Undressing room” and then move into the “Shower” room - the gas chamber. There were even fake shower heads. Once 1-2 thousand were squeezed in, the poison gas was thrown in, 20 minutes later they were dead. Other prisioners where then forced to remove all valuables from the corpses, and shave their heads. As a precautionary measure, the Nazis would execute these prisioners every few months, and replace them with new workers.

The ruins are all that remains of the gas chambers and furnaces of Birkenau that were responsible for the deaths of 1,000,000 mainly Jews. The retreating Nazis destroyed them in an attempt to hide what they had been doing.

The day was a truely remarkable experience which I very highly recommend. Its hard to belive this was only 60 odd years ago, and as Simon said at the end of the tour, its important that this is preserved in memory so that it can never happen again. More photos available at: http://flickr.com/photos/rosstified/sets/72157604518358704/