Auschwitz concentration camp

We visited Auschwitz and Birkenau today with a tour group.  We watched a pretty vivid video on the bus trip to the site.  It was all footage taken by a Russian photographer who accompanied the Russian troops who liberated the camp in 1945.   There were actually 4 major camps in the area and 40 sub-camps in the region.  Many of the prisoners were used as expendable labor for German war industries that relocated to the area.  Auschwitz I was constructed of brick buildings that housed most of the workers;  Birkenau was constructed later as Auschwitz filled up.  The buildings were wooden structures (see other post)

The Auschwitz camp seemed a bit unreal.  The stark brick buildings were surrounded by nicely kept lawns, blooming lilac bushes, and newly planted trees lining the roads between the buildings.  It felt very odd to hear the guide speak about the number of dead and how they were tortured and killed when looking at such nice grounds.  The last Commander of the camp was captured and tried by the Poles.  He was hung from a special gallows constructed on the grounds of Auschwitz.

Main gate: work will set you free (!)

Inside of the buildings were large photos of the prisoners, and collections of the personal belongings that had been stolen from the prisoners upon their arrival, but not yet shipped back to Germany.  The Germans were forced to abandon the camp as the Russians advanced in early 1945.  They burned many of the wooden buildings and actually used dynamite on the large gas chambers and crematoriums to destroy evidence of what had happened there.  The Jews who were fit enough were force marched back toward Germany.  The remaining prisoners whom the Russians discovered were close to death.

As soon as prisoners arrived, they had to leave all of their belongings in a pile.  All of their things were sorted and recycled back to Germany.  This even included gold fillings, which were collected along with the teeth to which they were attached.  In one day they would sometimes collect enough gold to remelt into 20 kilo bricks.

Eyeglasses

Prothetics

 Cooking pots

 Luggage with names and home towns.

 Shoes

 Toothbrushes

Prisoners wore blue and white striped outfits (only 1 was provided), and wooden shoes.