Detailed review by proxam
proxam
Livingston, United Kingdom97%
The State Museum in Oswiecim. Doesn't sound too sinister, does it?
But use the German name for the city - Auschwitz - and it doesn't sound quite so cozy. It conjures up images of terror, unspeakable cruelty, bestiality and genocide. It is the epitome of the Holocaust.
A Short History
The camp was formed by the Nazis in April 1940, in the suburbs of the Polish city of Oswiecim. Initially, the inmates were Polish political prisoners, but before long, Soviet prisoners of war, Gypsies, and prisoners of other nationalities were also imprisoned.
Gradually, the camp was enlarged and the expanded complex consisted of three main camps: Auschwitz 1, Auschwitz 2-Birkenau, and Auschwitz 3-Monowitz. In addition, there were over 40 sub-camps. By 1942, Auschwitz had become the epicentre of the greatest genocide in history, namely the Nazi's Final Solution to the Jewish question. Most of the Jews 'resettled' to Auschwitz were sent to their deaths in the Birkenau gas chambers immediately upon arrival.
In the dying days of the war, the SS tried to dismantle and/or destroy the gas chambers, crematoria, and other evidence of their crimes before the advancing Red Army reached them. Some prisoners, those who could walk, were evacuated deep into the Reich - many didn't survive these 'death marches'. Those who remained were liberated by Red Army soldiers on January 27, 1945.
On July 2 1947, by an act of parliament, the Polish government established the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on the site.
Sourced from:
http://www.auschwitz-muze um.oswiecim.pl
Auschwitz-1
There are guided tours in a variety of languages but we decided to buy a guide book and see everything at our own pace. The book was very easy to use and explained the exhibits in some depth but not so much that we spent all our time reading.
This camp resembles an army barracks (which it originally was) with around 30, two-storey buildings (or blocks) of which around 20 house exhibitions portraying the history of the camp or outlining the despicable torments of the victims.
Block 4 is where you will find the stockpiles of the Nazi's contraband - the items stolen from people before they were murdered. There are different rooms filled from floor to ceiling with all manner of possessions which were to be re-cycled. Items like: suitcases, shaving brushes, shoes, spectacles, artificial limbs....You can't imagine what 7 tons of human hair looks like, I certainly can't describe it.
And then there's the tiny children's clothes.......
Blocks 5, 6 and 7 house the evidence of crimes and the living conditions of the prisoners.
Block 11 is the Death Block. This was effectively a prison within a prison. The courtyard between blocks 10 and 11 was where many of the punishments and executions took place.
Blocks 14 to 21 display exhibits pertaining to different countries, these are: U.S.S.R., Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia & Austria, Hungary, France & Belgium, and Italy & Holland.
Block 27 depicts the suffering and struggle of the Jews.
All along the corridors in many of the blocks are 'mug shot' type photographs of prisoners. I found this very poignant - sometimes when we talk of millions of victims, they can simply become statistics. To see photo after photo after photo of these people somehow brings more reality to the tragedy.
The Crematorium and Gas Chamber lies outside the main fence, but still inside the camp. Although this was largely re-constructed by the museum (from the original materials) it is extremely sombre and thoroughly depressing.
Auschwitz 2 - Birkenau
Around 3km from the main camp, this is the quintessential image that most people have of the Death Camps, it is for me anyway. The rail tracks lead through the gates to the sidings where the 'selections' were made.
Not much remains of the apparatus of mass destruction after the Nazis tried to destroy the evidence of their 'Final solution'. The bunkers are just ruins now and when you stand there and look back along the railway lines to the scene of so much suffering, it's hard to imagine the sheer scale of the crime committed here.
Birkenau covered an area of 425 acres and contained over 300 buildings of which 45 brick, and 22 wooden ones remain. Of the rest only the chimneys remain and gave me the impression of a cemetery - which I suppose it is. Birkenau was where the Nazis perfected their methods of mass murder and has been left pretty much as it was when it was liberated in 1945. It's not really a museum in the general sense - there aren't any exhibits - but as an historical site it probably has no equal.
Conclusion
I was pleased to see large groups of school children visiting as the subject of the Holocaust should never be glossed over. None of the kids were behaving in the usual boisterous manner either which was very refreshing.
My wife and I have wanted to visit here for a long, long time but the logistics have always beaten us, until now that is. To say it was enjoyable would be crass. Fulfilling? possibly, horrible - certainly.
It's not an easy place to visit - in more ways than one.
Why did I go there?
From time to time I like to re-affirm my belief that there are no limits to the depths to which the human race can willingly plunge.
I'd like to be wrong...just once.
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