Auschwitz - Birkenau

The tiny Polish village of Oswiecim would forever be remembered in history after it was occupied by Nazi Germany and renamed Auschwitz. Initially used as a labor camp for Polish prisoners, it was gradually expanded into a vast labor and death camp that became the site of the greatest mass murder in human history. I purposely went in winter at a time when I thought it wouldn't be crowded and would offer a quiet environment to reflect, but the place was packed with others who apparently had the same idea. Rather than be annoyed by my fellow travelers, I took solace in the fact that even now, in the freezing cold more than 70 years after the end of the war, the crowds gathered here offered proof that the world will never forget what happened here.

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Taking in one of the outdoor exhibits while waiting for our guide to take us inside.

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The infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Makes You Free) sign at the entrance to the camp.

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Around the periphery of Auschwitz, a double layered electric barb wire fence.

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First impression: lots of sturdy brick buildings in the camp, but that's because it was a former military barracks.

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Helpful signs in multiple languages around the camp make sure you don't miss any of its historical significance.

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Many of the barracks buildings serve as exhibition rooms. Going inside for our first look at the horror.

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Some of the papers recovered after the war detailing the German plans for the "final solution" of the Jewish problem.

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You learn quickly why Auschwitz was chosen as the location for Nazi Germany's massive death campaign: its central location in Europe made it an ideal point of shipment for prisoners from all over the Reich.

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The process of "selection" so memorably depicted in the movie Sophie's Choice. New arrivals were quickly sorted into groups of those who could work and those who were led straight to the gas chambers. The pictures of the process are haunting as you gaze into the eyes of those who thought they were going for a shower and see the empty train platforms afterwards.

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Discarded Zyklon B canisters after the contents were used to gas prisoners in the camp.

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A centerpiece of the camp showcases prisoner belongings left behind in an exhibit aptly titled, "Material Proof of Crimes". Our guide simply refers to it as "Something which should never be seen." People with eyeglasses were deemed to be disabled and sent immediately to the gas chambers. Those with artificial limbs and crutches suffered the same fate. People were instructed to write their names on their suitcases, tricked into believing they would be reunited with their possessions later.

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I've always found displays like this to be very effective. Too many people to count died here, effectively illustrated by the seemingly infinite barrage of prisoner portraits down endless hallways. When confronted by such dizzying numbers as this, I hone in on a few random individuals to remind myself of the personal nature of the crime; sometimes it is far too easy to get lost in the vast numbers and forget that individual people were involved.

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Bunk bed display. Looks almost comfortable until you read that more than one person slept in each bed.

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Communal toilets in the barracks.

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The grim view outside every window. Escape would be almost impossible.

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Courtyard leading to Auschwitz's "death wall," the site of execution of thousands of prisoners (mostly Polish) who were lined up and shot here.

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"Death wall" courtyard. These posts were places of torture where prisoners were hung with their arms tied behind their backs.

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An eerie image from Auschwitz's "death block". Jail door with a gallows lit up at the end.

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Walking the grounds at Auschwitz. Guard towers and barbed wire in every direction.

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There is justice in the end. Rudolf Hoess, the Deputy Fuehrer who was the German commander at Auschwitz, was hanged here himself on the camp grounds in 1947 after he was found guilty of war crimes by Poland's Supreme Court.

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Auschwitz's gas chamber and crematorium. Another place where strict silence is observed.

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What appears to be fingernail scratchings along the walls of the gas chamber.

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Auschwitz crematorium.

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Leaving Auschwitz to head over to nearby Auschwitz II - Birkenau, the much larger of the twin camps where most of the extermination took place.

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A sight to send chills down any spine: the railway entrance to the massive Birkenau death camp where upwards of a million people died in just a few short years. Nearly 3/4 of the people who set foot in this camp went straight to their deaths in the gas chamber.

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Birkenau is so large that you can't see the entire camp from one vantage point. The scale of death here is impossible to comprehend.

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Most of the buildings in the Birkenau camp were destroyed during and after the war. Germans blew up a lot trying to cover their tracks, and local people needed firewood. There was also a fear that the invading Russians would use the place as a terror camp as well, so locals were keen on seeing it destroyed. Back then no one was thinking about saving this place as a museum for future generations.

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This cart was used each morning to distribute bread and pick up the corpses of those who died overnight.

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The "death barrack" at Birkenau. Here women who were too weak to work were dumped off to wait their turn to be taken to the gas chamber.

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Ruins of Gas Chamber and Crematorium II at Birkenau, destroyed by the Nazis at the end of the war in an attempt to hide what was done here.

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Ponds next to the crematorium at Auschwitz - Birkenau where the ashes of hundreds of thousands were dumped after their corpses were burned. The strong acrid smell of smoke and destruction still permeates the air here to this day.