Birkenau concentration camp

Birkenau was built after Auschwitz became too crowded.  Prisoners arrived at the camp by train.  They were packed into shipping cars with over 70 people inside.  Many trips lasted 7-10 days.  They were given no food and were only let out when they arrived at Birkenau.

Prisoners were met by the camp doctor who sorted them by their capacity to perform manual labor.  Many women and children never entered the barracks, but were taken straight to the gas chambers.  They were told that they were entering the showers so there would not be a panic.  The gas chamber in Birkenau could hold 3000 people at time.  The bodies were removed, and their hair shaved off (to be reused for insulation, and for weaving other items). The remains were then cremated and the ashes dumped in the forest.  At times when the ovens could not keep up with the piles of dead, the bodies were dumped in mass graves and set on fire.

Those prisoners who were deemed fit to work were sent to the barracks.  500 people lived in each structure.  The brick down the center of the building stretched between two wood stoves to help heat the building, but was totally inadequate.

Toilets.  These were closed at night.  These were not adequate to prevent dysentary and other diseases from killing thousands.

Its hard to tell from this picture, but most of what remains of the barrack grounds are the two brick chimneys from each building.  The grounds are called the 'forest of brick' and they stretch far into the distance.